Toyota Takes on Hydrogen Production With the Help of Emerson

Emerson and Toyota Australia are working together to transform part of Toyota Australia’s facility into a commercial-grade hydrogen production, storage, and refueling plant.

Supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), the project tapped Emerson to provide the control system that will help Toyota Australia to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of manufacturing hydrogen fuels, including the use of renewable solar energy.

For the Toyota Australia Hydrogen Center, Emerson’s DeltaV distributed control system will be used to gather data from the plant’s equipment—monitoring the production and storage of hydrogen gas while documenting and validating the sustainability of operations.

“By incorporating a digital automation foundation to eliminate data silos, Toyota Australia can not only significantly reduce costs but also gain greater visibility into system performance, making it easier to maintain and report sustainability performance and increase productivity,” said Mark Bulanda, executive president of Emerson’s automation solutions business.

Here's a basic overview of how Emerson's solutions will work in the plant:

“The data foundation Toyota has built will make it faster and easier for like-minded companies to replicate success as hydrogen refueling networks continue to expand across the continent and the globe.”

• The DeltaV systems control operations for optimal production efficiencies and help ensure safe operations.
• Edge control technology from Emerson’s PACSystems will be used to further reduce the cost and complexity of integrating third-party systems.
• Rosemount flame detectors will help keep personnel and operations safe.
• Pre-existing configuration libraries reduced setup time.
• Emerson’s technologies create a platform to add future remote operations and data analytics more easily and cost-effectively.

The need to integrate many data sources into one balance-of-plant system makes sustainable hydrogen projects challenging. However, it's a process that’s necessary for a facility’s success and future companies will likely be able to look at this example for insight on how they too, can make this a reality.