Hyosung Group has once again made a key step forward in achieving its long-term ambition to become South Korea’s corporate leader in the hydrogen sector.
The group on June 21 held the groundbreaking ceremony of the world’s largest liquid hydrogen plant to be jointly constructed with the global industrial gas supplier Linde plc.
Once constructed, the new plant will annually produce 13,000 tons of liquid hydrogen. Hyosung chose the Yongyeon site for the new plant as the group’s chemical unit produces byproduct hydrogen in its petrochemical manufacturing process. Hyosung will use the byproduct hydrogen in making liquid hydrogen.
The liquid hydrogen, created by cooling hydrogen in the gaseous state to a temperature below 253°C, is much easier to store and transport as its volume is only about one eight-hundredth that of hydrogen gas.
The groundbreaking ceremony with Hyosung and Linde Korea representatives (Courtesy of Herald Business) Hyosung Group said that its new JV, Hyosung Hydrogen, will build 30 large-scale hydrogen charging stations for the distribution of the liquid hydrogen produced at the plant.
The large-scale charging station, according to the company, is much larger than the current stations, allowing the charging of multiple vehicles at the same time as well as bigger vehicles such as hydrogen trucks. Hyosung said the first large-scale charging station will be built in Ulsan city.
At the ceremony, Hyosung and Linde also together announced their long-term vision to transform South Korea into a carbon-neutral country using hydrogen technologies.
To achieve their vision, the two companies will expand joint R&D efforts, develop green and blue hydrogen technologies and set up new carbon-neutral business projects.
“Hyosung will contribute to the creation of the hydrogen economy in South Korea by reducing the country’s total carbon emissions by 10%,” said Hyosung Group Chairman Cho.
HYOSUNG’S GROUP-WIDE HYDROGEN EFFORTS
In addition to the new joint plant with Linde, Hyosung Heavy Industries Co. will also build its own facilities to annually produce 26,000 tons of liquid hydrogen, bringing the group-wide capacity to 39,000 tons.
That 39,000 tons of liquid hydrogen is enough to run 300,000 of Hyundai Motor Co.’s hydrogen fuel cell-powered Nexo vehicles for a year.
Hyosung Group said it will invest 1 trillion won ($883 million) over the next five years to achieve the targeted annual capacity.
“Hydrogen energy will be the basis of humankind’s next energy revolution. Hyosung Group will lead Korea’s energy paradigm shift,” said Cho.
Write to Jae-kwang Ahn at ahnjk@hankyung.com Daniel Cho edited this article.
