 |
 |
On November 9, 2007, one of the world’s most advanced research facilities opened with its dedication ceremony on Kyushu University’s Ito campus. This facility will house research on materials related to hydrogen, a substance looked to as a future energy source.
In May 2006, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), an independent administrative institution, and Kyushu University signed a cooperative agreement. Following a formal request from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), the Research Center for Hydrogen Industrial Use and Storage (headed by Yukitaka Murakami, Kyushu University Vice President) was established on Kyushu University’s Ito campus on July 1, 2007.
Kyushu University faculty members, serving concurrently as center researchers, are working with full-time researchers dispatched from AIST to identify the basic mechanisms for preventing “material susceptibility to hydrogen through liquefaction and pressurization,” as well as to understand the “physicality of liquified and pressurized hydrogen” with a goal of laying the foundation for a society based on hydrogen energy.
The new four-story research building, with a total area of 3,571,43 square meters, includes a high pressure hydrogen experimental facility (where experiments with hydrogen pressure of up to 100MPa are possible) and a sensitive precision analysis facility (an experimental facility for ultrasensitive hydrogen analysis).
Present at the ceremony were approximately 150 guests from AIST, Kyushu University, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), NEDO, overseas research institutions, repretatives from Fukuoka prefecture, Fukuoka city, and other local authorities and businesses . On the ceremony sidelines, three automakers sponsored a fuel cell vehicle test-drive event, offering a number of citizens, students, and faculty members an opportunity to experience the speed that could be gained without environmental impact of any noise or odor.
【Address from Kyushu University President Kajiyama】
This center constitutes a part of our plan to create a demonstration experimental base for advanced technologies on the Ito Campus. I hope that this facility, an exceptional place specializing in the hydrogen-related materials studies, can achieve results that will bring about social changes. Our university is proud to assist the center’s activities such that the center can gain the understanding and support of the surrounding communities, an essential component for such an endeavor.
【Address from Fukuoka Governor Aso】
Fukuoka Prefecture hosts the “Fukuoka Strategic Meeting on Hydrogen Energy (headed by Makoto Haya, representative director and President of Nippon Steel Engineering)”, through which about 300 businesses are cooperating with the government and universities to promote the creation of a society based on safe and environmentally friendly hydrogen energy. Kyushu University is playing a central role in these efforts. I hope that this new research facility will lead to the creation of a world-class test field for this area and set new energy use standards.
【Photos】
・The newly opened Research Center for Hydrogen Industrial Use and Storage (right). A fuel cell vehicle is shown on the road in front of the facility.
・A ribbon-cutting ceremony is held at the facility’s entrance.
|
