Covestro, Vopak and Mitsubishi Corporation have invested a total of €17 million in German hydrogen carrier technology company, Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies.

“With these investments, our company will be strengthening our international industrial base, using the funding to bring additional projects to market,” said Daniel Teichmann, CEO of Hydrogenious Technologies.

Hydrogenious was formed in January 2013 out of Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, after scientists there developed a new carrier material for hydrogen. The gas has three times the energy content of gasoline and the company said it is convinced that hydrogen will contribute significantly to a renewable and emission-free energy system in the future.

Stored in the carrier oil, Hydrogenious said hydrogen can be transported as easily and efficiently as conventional liquid fuels. It added that Asian countries have recognized hydrogen as a valuable energy carrier and LOHC technology could provide an economically viable solution for storing large volumes of hydrogen in densely populated urban areas as well as distributing it over long distances.

Using LOHCs means that larger volumes of hydrogen can be transported compared to compressed gas distribution trailers, while the technology’s lower flammability and lower explosive nature is much safer, which also leads to considerably reduced storage costs.

Vopak’s director new energies Marcel van de Kar commented: “This strategic partnership will facilitate development of trans-regional and global transport of hydrogen and contribute to the development of hydrogen-based economies.”

Dietrich Firnhaber, Covestro’s head of strategy & portfolio development, added that affordable and clean energy is a key issue for the chemical industry and it believes hydrogen has the potential to become an important energy vector in the future.