Chiyoda Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation have agreed to jointly develop a large-scale electrolysis system and construct a strategic partnership and have signed a basic agreement on cooperation. The goal is to contribute to achieving the government targets(1) for the introduction of electrolysis equipment both in Japan and overseas as part of the Basic Strategy on Hydrogen formulated by the government.
The production and mass production technologies for electrolysis cell stacks using the fuel cell technology held by Toyota and the processing plant design technologies and large-scale plant construction technologies held by Chiyoda will be brought together to develop a large-scale electrolysis system that can be competitive. This will allow adaptation to the rapidly expanding hydrogen production markets both inside and outside Japan.Specifically, the goal is to develop an electrolysis system with high hydrogen production efficiency while being the world’s smallest in size.
To be able to respond to the various needs of customers, such as the amount of hydrogen used or limitations on plant floor area, 5 MW-class equipment will be used as the basic unit (floor area: 2.5 m x 6 m, hydrogen production capacity: approx. 100 kg/hr) for development, and will be combined to create a standard package, allowing the construction of large-scale electrolysis systems.
The merits of this equipment include the fact that it only takes up about half the floor area of conventional equipment and offers ease of maintenance while allowing easier shipping, shortened on-site construction times, and lower civil engineering and construction costs. Toyota’s particular expertise in industrial products and Chiyoda’s particular expertise in plant engineering will be combined and optimized, allowing benefits such as lower costs, increased production efficiency, and more stable quality for the electrolysis systems required to produce green hydrogen.
With the signing of this basic agreement on cooperation, the introduction of an electrolysis system in Hydrogen Park at the Toyota Honsha Plant will start in FY2025. It will be expanded in the future to the 10 MW class and used for verification and development. Any further developments will be released as they happen.
Both companies will exhibit at the H2&FC EXPO (organized by RX Japan Ltd., held from Feb. 28 to Mar. 1, 2024) held at Tokyo Big Sight (Koto-ku, Tokyo).
Toyota will continue working on “Producing Happiness for All” with the aim of achieving a hydrogen-based society through a multi-pathway approach in the value chain of “Produce / Transport / Store / Use” which aims for the social implementation of hydrogen.
(1) The government targets for the introduction of electrolysis equipment are set at about 10% (approx. 15 GW) of the share of Japan-based companies (including parts manufacturers) within the 134 GW forecast for introduction globally by 2030. (
Chiyoda Corporation (Chiyoda), Cognite, and Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding and a proof-of-concept (PoC) agreement (“the Agreement”). The former covers the joint provision and collaboration on the Mirai Fusion (MF) digital solutions platform, which is designed for industrial facilities and plants, while the latter covers PoC work for an oil refinery in Japan. Our plan is to expand on these solutions and ultimately make them available to a variety of industrial facilities in Japan and overseas, including other oil refineries and LNG and petrochemicals plants.
Efficiency improvements and the succession of management and technologies are important challenges in plant operations. Some of the more pressing issues include cutting maintenance costs associated with aging and deteriorating equipment, accurately gauging the operational and management expertise of skilled workers, and the integrated use of data that up to now have been disconnected due to the vertical structuring of existing systems.
The MF platform is built on Cognite Data Fusion (CDF), software developed by Cognite that enables the integration and contextualization of various types of fragmented industrial data. Its application in oil and gas plant operations marks a world first, as this type of software has never before been used for such a purpose.
One of the goals of the Agreement is to support digital transformation initiatives that aim to improve both maintenance efficiency and productivity of industrial plants. Cognite’s software will be used to augment Chiyoda’s plant engineering expertise to provide solutions tailored to each customer’s needs.
The partnership will also use proven, real-world applications. Some, developed with Chiyoda’s proprietary, AI-based digital technologies, help users visualize their operational statuses, predict equipment or process failures, and handle other procedures common in industry, while others will be cutting-edge, third-party apps(1) sourced from MC’s global network.
The technology used in the MF platform is already helping oil and gas operators such as Saudi Aramco and Aker BP maximize production and improve maintenance efficiency. Aker BP’s digitalization program is on track to reduce the operator’s annual operating expenses by 15-18 percent by 2022.
Following the rollout in Japan, Chiyoda, Cognite, and MC plan to expand on these solutions and make them available to a variety of industrial facilities in Japan and overseas.
The alliance between Chiyoda, Cognite, and MC aims to help customers grow more competitive and enhance their corporate value. Through effective use of data-driven apps designed to boost efficiency and enhance facility management, industrial companies will be able to optimize plant operations and oil and gas resources more efficiently, which can contribute to global decarbonization efforts.
(1) Apps with proven, real-world applications that were previously developed by other business partners
Overview of the Mirai Fusion (MF) platform
End-to-end support, spanning consulting (on general strategies, identification of problems, etc.), existing systems integration and connectivity, and customer-tailored development of apps (digital solutions).
Agile development, enabling the specification, development, and delivery of an app and the deployment of its software in as little as eight weeks.
Optimized solutions that combine three kinds of apps: standard apps with proven track records, custom apps that are built from scratch to meet the unique needs of each customer, and third-party apps that are developed and managed by other business partners.
About Chiyoda Corporation
Chiyoda Corporation is a world-leading, fully integrated engineering company and EPC contractor. Since its founding in 1948, Chiyoda has provided engineering, procurement, construction, operation and maintenance services in a wide range of business fields including Oil & Gas, Chemicals and petrochemicals in over 60 countries around the world. Chiyoda is enhancing digital transformation services in the industries and providing EFEXIS the digital solution developed by its engineering expertise and digital and AI technologies. Please visit Chiyoda’s web page; https://www.chiyodacorp.com/en/ and EFEXIS web page; https://www.efexis.com/en/ .
About Cognite
Cognite is a global industrial software-as-a-service (SaaS) company supporting the full-scale digital data driven transformation of asset intensive industries around the world. Our core product, Cognite Data Fusion (CDF), is an industrial data operations and contextualization platform, putting raw data into real-world industrial context, enabling rapid application & solution creation at scale. CDF powers companies with contextualized OT/IT/ET data to develop solutions that increase safety, sustainability, efficiency, and drive revenue. Visit us at www.cognite.com and follow us on Twitter @CogniteData or at LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cognitedata
About Mitsubishi Corporation
Mitsubishi Corporation is a global integrated business enterprise that develops and operates businesses together with its offices and subsidiaries in approximately 90 countries and regions worldwide, as well as a global network of around 1,700 group companies. MC has 10 Business Groups that operate across virtually every industry: Natural Gas, Industrial Materials, Petroleum & Chemicals Solution, Mineral Resources, Industrial Infrastructure, Automotive & Mobility, Food Industry, Consumer Industry, Power Solution and Urban Development. Through these 10 Business Groups, MC’s current activities have expanded far beyond its traditional trading operations to include project development, production and manufacturing operations, all of which benefit from its collaborations with trusted partners around the globe. For more information on MC, please visit the company’s website at https://www.mitsubishicorp.com/jp/en/
Specifically, the goal is to develop an electrolysis system with high hydrogen production efficiency while being the world’s smallest in size.
