Kawasaki Completes World's First Liquefied Hydrogen Receiving Terminal Kobe LH2 Terminal (Hy touch Kobe)

Kobe LH2 Terminal accommodates a 2,500 m³ volume spherical liquefied hydrogen storage tank with a capacity of 2,250 m³—the largest of its kind in Japan—as well as other equipment including a loading arm system specially designed for transferring liquefied hydrogen between land-based facilities and ships. The storage tank enables stable, long-period storage of cryogenic liquefied hydrogen reduced to a temperature of -253°C and one eight-hundredth its initial volume. The tank features a double-shell vacuum-insulation structure, comprising inner and outer shells with a vacuum-sealed layer in between to prevent heat transfer from the outside. Additionally, the tank adopts a spherical design, which is the best shape for reducing heat transfer. This highly reliable tank structure design is based on know-how accumulated through more than 30 years of successful operation of similar tanks Kawasaki delivered in the 1980s to the Tanegashima Space Center, operated by NASDA (now part of JAXA)*3. Furthermore, performance tests conducted for the Kobe LH2 Terminal tank confirmed high thermal insulation capability and functional stability.