Junichi Miyamoto Hydrogen Research Award - 九州大学エネルギー研究教育機構

In accordance with the wishes of the late Mr. Junichi Miyamoto, this scholarship is intended to contribute to the development of hydrogen research at Kyushu University. The award will provide tuition fee support for students with outstanding abilities in hydrogen research who are enrolled in the doctoral course,master's course at Kyushu University and are expected to distinguish themselves as exceptional researchers in the future. The fund will enable such students to devote themselves to their research studies and contribute to the vitalization of the research activities in the graduate schools of Kyushu University.

NEWS

In accordance with the wishes of the late Mr. Junichi Miyamoto, this scholarship is intended to contribute to the development of hydrogen research at Kyushu University. The award will provide tuition fee support for students with outstanding abilities in hydrogen research who are enrolled in the doctoral course,master’s course at Kyushu University and are expected to distinguish themselves as exceptional researchers in the future. The fund will enable such students to devote themselves to their research studies and contribute to the vitalization of the research activities in the graduate schools of Kyushu University.

Call (for October 2023)

（Documents of October 2023)

Award Winners

Autumn Semester 2021

Affiliation:1^st year Ph. D student, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Hydrogen Energy Systems

Name	Masahiro Yasutake
Title of the Research	Developing Porous Transport Electrode for Low Iridium Loading and High Current Density Operation of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Water Electrolysis (PEMWE)
Outline of Research	Green hydrogen production by water electrolysis is a key technology for realizing a decarbonized society. The issue of high green hydrogen production cost is primarily due to operating expenditure and capital expenditure. PEMWE especially has a clear advantage over other water electrolysis technologies due to its ability to operate at high current density. The overall electrode area could be reduced at high current density operation, leading to an overall reduction in capital expenditure. A significantly high amount of platinum group metal (PGM) catalyst used in the anode due to rate-determining anode reaction is also another issue. The objective of this research is to therefore develop a low PGM loading anode, while realizing high performance and high current density operation for overall reduction of capital expenditure. Currently, we have developed a novel anode, which has the potential to exhibit high catalytic activity and suppress mass transport resistance at high current density operation.
Activity Report, etc	Activity Report Competition

Spring Semester 2022

Affiliation:IGSES, Plasma and Quantum Science and Engineering

Name	Hikona Sakai
Title of the Research	Elucidation of turbulence-driven transport physics in hydrogen isotope plasmas through the development of measurement equipment
Outline of Research	Through developing a turbulence measurement system, a comprehensive understanding of plasma confinement by focusing on two physical phenomena in hydrogen isotope plasmas is aimed. The first is to clarify the behavior of turbulence and its contribution to transport inside the ITB (internal transport barrier), which has been reported to improve transport through experiments and simulations. Second, the interaction between macroscopic fluctuations and turbulence excited by fast ions simulating α-particles generated in a fusion reactor and their transport changes will be pursued.

Affiliation:Department of Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Engineering

Name	WEI XUESONG
Title of the Research	Dramatic improvement of critical current density based on the analogy of boiling and water electrolysis
Outline of Research	The world’s energy consumption is increasing year by year, and renewable energy power generation has received a great deal of attention in recent years. For the demand of using the excess energy generated by renewable energy more efficiently without wasting, there is a need to develop alkaline water electrolysis, which can transform excess generated electricity into hydrogen, as a large-scale and low-cost electricity storage technology. Therefore, based on the analogy between boiling and water electrolysis, we applied the cooling method by using a honeycomb porous plate, which significantly improved boiling Critical Heat Flux to alkaline water electrolysis and improved the performance of water electrolysis. To clarify the mechanism of water electrolysis improvement from the microscale, we develop a honeycomb porous electrode creation technology with which a honeycomb porous structure can be formed by a self-organization process, then build a theoretical model based on the experimental results.

Affiliation:The Department of Hydrogen Energy Systems, Faculty of Engineering

Name	Takahiro Uemura
Title of the Research	The Determination Mechanism of Fatigue Strength of Bended Pipe for High-Pressure Hydrogen Equipment
Outline of Research	Hydrogen refueling station equips hundreds of cone-and-thread fittings for connecting pipes, which increases construction cost. In addition, periodic confirmation works to prevent screw loosening also raise the regular maintenance cost. In such a situation, the use of bended pipes is required. Although the domestic regulation limits radius of bended pipe for use in high-pressure gas, its rationale is not established. This study aims to reveal the fatigue strength of bended pipes, which can be affected by various influencing factors, e.g., residual stress, work hardening and thickness change, by means of both experiments and numerical analyses, leading to a reasonable review of the existing regulation.