Professor Hirohisa Tanaka, Program of Materials Science, School of Engineering presented two research results on hydrogen safety catalysts at the 24th World Hydrogen Energy Conference (WHEC-2024) held in Cancun, Mexico from June 23 to 27, 2024.

WHEC-2024 was organized by the International Association of Hydrogen Energy (IAHE) and sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry, Elsevier, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), and was a successful event with approximately 700 participants from North and South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, the Middle East, Africa, and other countries around the world.

The Hirohisa Tanaka Laboratory is developing technology to prevent hydrogen explosions as a safety technology to support the coming hydrogen society. This technology reduces the hydrogen concentration below the explosion limit in the event of a hydrogen leak by combining with oxygen through a catalyst and converting it into safe water.

The first paper published this time was the results of research on adapting this catalyst to the environment of -253°C, which is characteristic of liquefied hydrogen, and has an energy density 800 times that of hydrogen gas. The title is "Experimental verification to developing safety technology for liquefied hydrogen: Project "STACY"". This is the result of research on "Towards Safe Storage and Transportation of Cryogenic Hydrogen (STACY)", which is a joint project of four laboratories from Japan, Germany and France, supported by EIG CONCERT-Japan, a multinational international joint research project of the JST SICORP (Strategic International Collaborative Research Program).

The second paper is a technology to support reconstruction, such as decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and treating contaminated water. The title is "A proposal of hydrogen safety technology for decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant". At the bottom of the reactor where the accident occurred, melted nuclear fuel has accumulated, and this is called fuel debris. The fuel debris is submerged in the cooling water, but the amount of contaminated water continues to increase as rainwater and groundwater flow into it, so a major national project is being promoted to remove the fuel debris and store it elsewhere. This fuel debris would be sealed and stored in a storage canister, but if water remains, the radiation emitted from the fuel debris will decompose the water into hydrogen and oxygen, which poses the risk of secondary disasters. A technology was presented to convert the hydrogen and oxygen generated in the storage canister back into water through a catalytic reaction.

Both presentations by Professor Tanaka attracted attention, and the audience from companies, universities, and research institutes asked him questions and exchanged more detailed information. Professor Tanaka was also able to meet with old friends and researchers for the first time in a long time after the COVID-19 pandemic, and had a meaningful exchange of opinions about the role of hydrogen in building a carbon-neutral society, which he hopes to utilize in his future research.