December 17, 2025 [Storage Terminals Magazine]- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has achieved a major technological breakthrough in the development of innovative ammonia cracking systems, successfully producing hydrogen with 99 percent purity by cracking ammonia using steam as the heating source. The pilot-scale hydrogen production was carried out at MHI’s Nagasaki District Research & Innovation Center, marking a world-first demonstration of ammonia cracking using steam heating.

Unlike conventional ammonia cracking technologies that rely on heat generated from burner combustion, MHI’s steam-based heating system operates at lower reaction temperatures, resulting in reduced operating costs. The absence of a combustion furnace also enables a more compact system design, offering significant advantages in terms of efficiency, flexibility, and potential for miniaturisation.

Hydrogen is increasingly being adopted worldwide as a key energy carrier in the transition toward a decarbonised society, as it produces no carbon dioxide when combusted. Ammonia, in particular, has gained attention as an effective hydrogen carrier, allowing hydrogen to be stored and transported safely over long distances and in large volumes.

Building on this achievement, MHI aims to develop medium-scale, decentralised ammonia cracking systems located close to hydrogen demand sites, supporting the creation of a robust hydrogen supply chain based on ammonia. Using the results of the pilot test, MHI will accelerate further development in collaboration with project partners Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd. and Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Inc. The technology has been selected under Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO) programme for the “Development of Technologies for Building a Competitive Hydrogen Supply Chain.”

Through continued innovation and collaboration, MHI seeks to fast-track the deployment of practical decarbonisation technologies and contribute to the realisation of a sustainable, carbon-neutral society.