By 2025, Hyundai Oilbank plans to build a blue hydrogen ecosystem capable of producing 100,000 metric tons of hydrogen per year and converting carbon dioxide created during the production process into commercial items like as dry ice.
The South Korean energy company claims that the ecosystem would harvest hydrogen from natural gas and refinery byproducts and remove carbon to turn the hydrogen “blue.” The hydrogen will then be transported, delivered, and supplied to clients in order to generate power, while the carbon eliminated will be used to create items such as building materials and fertilizers.
Although hydrogen itself is colorless, it is described using a color code to distinguish its source. While blue hydrogen is produced from natural gas using carbon capture technology, the most environmentally friendly hydrogen is produced from water using renewable energy and emits no carbon.
Hyundai Oilbank partnered with Air Products, the world’s largest hydrogen manufacturer situated in Pennsylvania, last month to establish the ecosystem. Air Products has source technology for hydrogen extraction from a variety of raw materials, as well as expertise in plant operation, hydrogen storage, transportation, and liquefaction.
Hyundai Oilbank intends to leverage Air Products’ technologies for its blue hydrogen ecosystem and to expand the cooperation to include green hydrogen. Since July, Air Products has been operating a plant in Saudi Arabia that converts solar and wind energy into ammonia.
Ammonia can be converted into nitrogen and hydrogen in the future without releasing carbon dioxide. Apart from hydrogen production, Hyundai Oilbank intends to use it to generate power. This month, the company formed a joint venture with Korea South-East Power to generate electricity using hydrogen fuel cells.
Beginning next year, large electricity providers, including KOEN, will be required to generate a specific portion of their electricity using hydrogen.
Korea intends to raise hydrogen fuel cell generation capacity from 650 megawatts to 8,000 megawatts, and the domestic market is estimated to reach 7 trillion won ($6.2 billion).
