New Toyota fuel cell equipment to decarbonise manufacturing

Innovative electrolysis equipment stimulates local consumption of locally produced hydrogen
Toyota is collaborating with the DENSO Group to use hydrogen and renewable energy to decarbonise a plant in Fukushima prefecture in Japan. It involves new electrolysis equipment using Mirai technology in order to build a model of local production of hydrogen for local consumption.
17/03/2023

New equipment based on Mirai technology

Toyota has been working with Fukushima Prefecture since June 2021 on the development of new future cities based around hydrogen. We recently developed new electrolysis equipment that produces hydrogen from electrolysing water using the fuel cell stack and other technology from the Mirai. This month the equipment will be put into operation at a DENSO Fukushima Corporation plant. The plant will be able to produce clean hydrogen and use it in a gas furnace, which will help to decarbonise the plant. A further aim is to expand the model's implementation to other industries and regions.

Key role of hydrogen for carbon neutrality

Toyota sees hydrogen as a critical fuel for initiatives aimed at reducing CO2 emissions and contributing to carbon neutrality goals. In doing so, we aim to promote the use of hydrogen not only through fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) including passenger cars, commercial trucks, and buses, but also through the widespread use of fuel cell (FC) products such as FC stationary generators. To this end, Toyota is working with various industry partners in the areas of producing, transporting, storing, and using hydrogen.
 
Three features of the electrolysis equipment
  • Highly reliable cells in the Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolysis stack, backed by the mass production and usage results of more than seven million cells since the Mirai was launched in 2014.
  • Increased durability using titanium for the stack separator. The high corrosion resistance of titanium maintains almost the same level of performance even after 80,000 hours of operation.
  • A reasonable cost level. More than 90% of FC stack components for FCEVs and FC stack production facilities can be used/shared in the PEM electrolysis stack production process, reducing manufacturing costs.

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