Kirin Brewery Company, Limited (Kirin Brewery), along with Mitsubishi Corporation, MCKB Energy Service Co., Ltd. (MCKB) which is sponsored and operated by Mitsubishi Corporation Clean Energy, Takasago Thermal Engineering Co., Ltd. (Takasago Thermal Engineering), and Miura Co., Ltd. (Miura), are collaborating on a demonstration project. The project aims to convert part of the fuel used for the steam boiler at the Chitose Brewery of Kirin Brewery Hokkaido from fossil fuel to green hydrogen and to utilize green hydrogen-derived steam in the beer production process. The demonstration is set to commence in June 2026.

In the beer production process, a large amount of steam is used to produce the unique aroma and bitterness of beer. In this demonstration, part of the fuel for the boiler that produces the steam is switched from city gas to green hydrogen. This is expected to replace up to approximately 23% of the annual heat demand with hydrogen and reduce GHG*1 emissions by 464 tons per year.

The roles of the companies are as follows.

● Kirin Brewery: Working with other companies to use hydrogen-derived steam in breweries.

● Mitsubishi Corporation: Coordination of commercial aspects and business structuring related to hydrogen supply.

● Takasago Thermal Engineering: Delivery and installation of hydrogen production equipment, design and construction of photovoltaic and hydrogen supply facilities, and maintenance of hydrogen facilities after completion of construction.

● MT Green Energy LLC. *2: Operates, maintains and manages hydrogen production facilities and produces and supplies hydrogen.

● MCKB: Production and supply of hydrogen-derived steam using Miura hydrogen-fired boilers.

● Miura: Design, manufacture, delivery and maintenance of hydrogen-fired boilers.

A joint venture company funded by Mitsubishi Corporation and Takasago Thermal Engineering

Construction is scheduled to start in April 2025 and the facility will be operational from June 2026. The demonstration period is planned to last approximately 10 years, during which time the effectiveness of the GHG emission reductions and technical issues in the energy conversion to green hydrogen will be verified.

By increasing the technical knowledge of energy conversion to reduce GHG emissions, the companies will accelerate their efforts to achieve their GHG emission reduction targets.