May 19, 2025
Kobe Steel, Ltd.
Kobe Steel, Ltd., and 16 organizations—The University of Tokyo, IHI Plant Services Corporation, INPEX CORPORATION, ENEOS Xplora Inc., Kanadevia Corporation, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., JFE Engineering Corporation, JFE Steel Corporation, JERA Co., Inc., TOKYO GAS NETWORK Co., Ltd., Namura Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., NIPPON STEEL ENGINEERING CO., LTD., NIPPON STEEL PIPELINE & ENGINEERING CO., LTD., NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION, ClassNK and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.—have jointly established the Social Collaboration Program*1, “Research Base of Materials for Future Energy Infrastructure Trust (MEIT)”, to scientifically elucidate and standardize the material reliability of energy infrastructure supporting a carbon-neutral society. The joint research will commence on May 1, 2025. Kobe Steel, Ltd., JFE Steel Corporation, NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION, and ClassNK play a role as the lead organization.
This program aims to evaluate the material reliability essential for ensuring the long-term integrity of infrastructure and cargo/fuel tanks for decarbonized energy carriers such as liquefied hydrogen and ammonia as well as structures for liquefied and high-pressure CO2 in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects. Through these efforts, the initiative seeks to accelerate the development of energy infrastructure for a carbon-neutral society, address domestic demand and enhance international competitiveness.
*1 A collaborative research framework between UTokyo and 16 organizations, funded by joint research expenses borne by the participating organizations under a contract. It enables interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers and the formation of research teams to address comprehensive societal challenges; thus, allowing them to overcome the limitations often found in conventional and ad-hoc collaborations between individual researchers and companies.
As society transitions to carbon neutrality, energy infrastructure is shifting significantly from fossil fuels to new systems utilizing hydrogen and ammonia. This includes liquefied hydrogen tanks, ammonia tanks, CO2 tanks and high-pressure CO2 pipelines, all of which require material reliability evaluations to ensure long-term safety and economic viability. The program will establish material selection criteria, post-weld heat treatment omission standards and fracture prevention criteria to optimize infrastructure construction costs and promote international standardization that contributes to a sustainable energy society.
Social Collaboration Program “Research Base of Materials for Future Energy Infrastructure Trust (MEIT)”
May 1, 2025 – April 30, 2030
School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
Joint Research Team:
Kobe Steel, Ltd., JFE Steel Corporation, NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION, and ClassNK will serve as lead organizations (collaborating with UTokyo to manage the program’s foundation) and participate in all research projects. Other companies will join as participating organizations, addressing the planning and review of one or more projects as well as supporting national R&D initiatives and standardization processes alongside UTokyo. Intellectual property protection, such as co-owned patents, will be actively pursued for new findings from the joint research. Additionally, the program will foster exchanges between UTokyo students and organization researchers to secure outstanding talent in this field.
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