Distributed Control System Deployed for Commercial Liquefied Hydrogen Terminal

Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. and ABB are collaborating to implement an industrial automation and safety platform at the Kawasaki LH2 Terminal in Ogishima, Japan. The deployment provides centralized process control and safety instrumentation for commercial-scale liquefied hydrogen handling, storage, and distribution.

Operational Challenge and Partner Roles
Transporting hydrogen as a cryogenic liquid reduces its volume to approximately 1/800 of its gaseous state, facilitating bulk maritime transport. Operating at these cryogenic conditions requires strict process stability, continuous monitoring, and fail-safe mechanisms to manage volatile fluid states.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries is constructing the receiving terminal as part of the Liquefied Hydrogen Supply Chain Commercialization Demonstration project, operated by Japan Suiso Energy, Ltd. and backed by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). ABB is responsible for the design, delivery, and integration of the process automation and safety infrastructure.

Control Architecture and Functional Safety
ABB is supplying its System 800xA distributed control system integrated with a Safety Integrity Level 3 (SIL 3) safety instrumented system. The platform unifies process automation, safety interlocks, and real-time operational diagnostics within a single digital environment.

System reliability is supported by redundant AC 800M controllers and dual-redundant server clusters. This architecture eliminates single points of failure across critical operations, including liquefaction, cryogenic storage, marine loading, unloading, and truck dispatch.

Terminal Scope and Operational Impact
The facility incorporates a 50,000 m³ liquefied hydrogen storage tank, gas transfer equipment, liquefaction units, and lorry-loading bays. The unified control environment simplifies operating procedures and provides operators with visibility across the entire plant lifecycle. The demonstration phase is scheduled for completion by 2030, establishing verified operational protocols for large-scale hydrogen import infrastructure.

Edited by Evgeny Churilov, Induportals Media - Adapted by AI.

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