To realize a hydrogen society, it is essential to establish technology to allow the efficient transportation and storage of hydrogen. Energy carriers (hydrogen-containing compounds such as methyl cyclohexane or ammonia) are the leading candidate as hydrogen transportation materials. It is essential to develop the technology to efficiently extract hydrogen from energy carriers. At the Inorganic Membranes Research Center, we are working on the development of efficient dehydrogenation and purification technologies using silica and palladium membranes.

New separation technology with efficient energy consumption is required to replace distillation. We are developing innovative separation technologies of hydrocarbon and organic solvents using inorganic zeolite membranes as an energy-saving and earth-friendly approach.

The separation of carbon dioxide from methane is necessary in the natural gas field. The methane content in biogas also needs to be increased by separating the carbon dioxide. At the Inorganic Membranes Research Center, we are developing zeolite membranes with high separation performance and large carbon dioxide permeance to realize the practical application of membrane separation technology to lower energy consumption.