On April 21, The Ministry of Economy, Technology, and Industry (METI) revised part of the Security Regulation for General High-Pressure Gases and the Industrial Complex Safety Regulation, aiming for development of more locations to install facilities for H2 stations and also for expansion of the width of steel materials usable in the stations.

Regarding the locations to install the stations, METI will carry out removal of the restrictions on the assumption of combined installation of natural gas station aside.

In case of the combined installation with natural gas station, a distance between compressor and accumulator has so far been regulated to secure six meters. In the revised regulation at this time, however, a combined installation becomes possible by setting a wall barrier in addition to the deregulated safety distance.

Under the past regulation, no existing natural gas station could provide any space for a hydrogen station, but the new regulation will allow a natural gas station to be utilized also as H2 station.
Regarding the expansion of steel material width, the copper materials (C3604, C3771) being examined so far for application to valves and pipes have been added to the exemplified standard.

It means that valves and pipes using these materials can be applied within the temperature range from -40℃ to 100℃ under a working pressure of 25 MPa of less. Furthermore, the applicable pressure and temperature range of the already usable stainless steel (SUS316, SUS316L) can be expanded.

Practically, the working pressure at a nickel equivalent of 28.5% or over is raised from 70 MPa to 82 MPa, and the working temperature at a nickel equivalent of 26.3% or over is raised from 85℃ to 250℃ respectively. Thanks to this, you will be able to apply stainless steel to the outlet piping of compressor to be heated up to 85℃ or higher and to the pre-cooling equipment piping to be pressurized up to 70 MPa.