Hyosung breaks ground for largest hydrogen plant
Ulsan factory serves goal of nurturing hydrogen as next growth engine
A Hyosung Group affiliate broke ground on a liquid hydrogen manufacturing plant jointly with German chemical company Linde Group in Ulsan, Monday.
The plant will be capable of producing 13,000 tons of liquid hydrogen annually, which will be the world’s largest once it is constructed by spring 2023.
Annually, the amount can fuel 100,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 130,000 tons.
The construction and management of the plant will be carried out by Hyosung Hydrogen, a joint venture between Hyosung Heavy Industries, the machinery maker arm of Hyosung Group, and Linde Group.
The project comes as the Korean textiles and chemicals conglomerate eyes hydrogen energy as its next growth engine and is pushing to nurture related businesses among its affiliates.
“Hydrogen energy is at the center of the energy revolution that can change the future of humankind and we will make investments in a consistent manner to lead such new energy paradigms,” Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Hyun-joon said during the groundbreaking ceremony.
The chairman called the ceremony “the opening of a new chapter toward a century-lasting Hyosung.” He said he found the construction especially meaningful as it is located
in the southeastern Korean city, where the Seoul-headquartered conglomerate was founded.
The ceremony was joined by Linde Korea Chairman Sung Baekseok, Ulsan Mayor Song Cheol-ho, Energy Vice Minister Park Jin-kyu and two vice chairmen of Hyosung Group — Cho Hyun-sang and Lee Sang-woon.
In a separate address, Chairman Sung described hydrogen energy as a “key driving force for a shift toward a low-carbon economy.”
He promised to “bring together capabilities and technologies” of Linde and Hyosung to build facilities for hydrogen energy.
The groundbreaking ceremony included announcement of a joint
vision, titled “Building a carbon-neutral Korea through hydrogen technologies.”
The vision has three major missions — expanding R&D to ensure safety, reliability and economic feasibility of hydrogen production and recharging, developing technologies domestically to extract blue and green hydrogen, both non-carbon-emitting energy sources, and developing technologies to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
The two business groups and the Ulsan Metropolitan Government signed a memorandum of understanding to work together on setting up large-scale hydrogen fueling stations in the city.
Hyosung Group is one of the four founding members of an envisioned CEO-level consultative body to be launched in September to accelerate clean energy transition. The four also include Hyundai Motor, SK and POSCO.
Hyosung Heavy Industries is the country’s No. 1 player in the commercial hydrogen fueling business, with 18 recharging stations nationwide.
In addition to the Ulsan plant, it will separately invest $1 trillion won ($879.3 million) over the next five years with a goal of producing 39,000 tons of liquid hydrogen per year.
Compared to gaseous hydrogen, liquid hydrogen takes less space and therefore is more cost-efficient in terms of storage and transportation. It is produced by cooling gaseous hydrogen to a temperature below minus 252.7 degrees and is stored in large insulated tanks.