Korea’s first on-site ‘bio green hydrogen charging station’ has been completed
The completion ceremony was conducted in Bongbang-dong, Chungju, for Korea’s first ‘bio green hydrogen charging station,’ which generates and provides hydrogen using biogas from food waste.
It has a ‘mother station’ feature that charges hydrogen to a tube trailer and distributes it to a neighboring charging station, in addition to charging hydrogen electric cars.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy selected the completed green hydrogen charging station as a public offering project in May 2019, and it was completed after two years of technological development at a total project cost of about 12.4 billion won, including 9.3 billion won from the government.
Officials in attendance were Park Ki-young, 2nd Vice Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy, Seong Il-hong, Chungcheongbuk-do Deputy Governor, Lee Jong-bae, Chungju Deputy Mayor Kim Du-hwan, and Kim Jin-gyun, Director of the Advanced Technology Research Institute.
“The quantity of food waste created in the Chungju region every day is roughly 60 tons,” said Park Ki-young, 2nd Vice Minister of Industry and Trade. “Biogas is produced and purified to produce 500 kg of green hydrogen per day.”
The cost of hydrogen per kilogram is 7,700 won, which is less than the cost of existing charging stations.
“As the first commercial green hydrogen charging station in Korea, it may be a fantastic business model in conjunction with a food waste treatment facility,” Assemblyman Lee Jong-bae (Power of the People) remarked.
Instead of importing hydrogen from other places (Daesan, Yeosu, Ulsan) where by-product hydrogen is generated at a high cost, Chungcheongbuk-do may utilize a tube trailer to feed hydrogen to the metropolitan area next to the Chungbuk area at a reasonable cost with this project.
R&D expenditure of $33.3 billion in future hydrogen generation and storage technology
By 2026, the government plans to invest 33.3 billion won in hydrogen production and storage technologies.
On April 1, the Ministry of Science and Information Technology will release the plan for choosing new R&D projects for future hydrogen source technology development.
The Ministry of Science and ICT is constantly promoting and preparing R&D initiatives to ensure hydrogen technology’s competitiveness, which has been designated as one of ten carbon-neutral innovative technologies and ten national critical strategic technologies.
Despite the low present level of technology, this project aims to produce a future-leading technology that will have a significant impact in the future.
Biochemical fermentation hydrogen generation and liquid ammonia electrolysis storage extraction technology will be added to the list of R&D projects this year.
In a situation where only technical goals are offered, the project selection technique is a middle-up method in which researchers suggest diverse and innovative research methodologies. We intend to run the firm in a competitive manner (tournament-style).
“Through production, storage, transportation, and utilization-based technology development and demonstration, we are planning a cross-ministerial hydrogen example project that will support the realization of carbon neutrality while also strengthening the competitiveness of the domestic hydrogen industry,” a Ministry of Science and ICT official said. As a result, we want to create a 2.0 hydrogen technology development roadmap.”
Hyundai Rotem is the first company to supply a hydrogen extractor to a fusion charging station
Hyundai Rotem, a subsidiary of the Hyundai car group in South Korea, has delivered a hydrogen extractor to a fusion charging station that uses food biogas to manufacture and provide hydrogen. The station has a daily capacity of 640 kilos of high-purity hydrogen.
Hyundai Rotem’s extractor is a vital component of a hydrogen fueling station in ChungjuChungju, a special demonstration zone 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of Seoul that debuted on March 30. The facility is South Korea’s first mother station, which uses tube trailers to charge automobiles and provide hydrogen to surrounding charging stations.
In a statement released on March 31, an anonymous Hyundai Rotem official claimed, “We accomplished delivery via the extensive procedure and quality control for the timely functioning of South Korea’s first hydrogen fusion charging station utilizing biogas.” Hyundai Rotem claims that its hydrogen extractor is 90% localized, making it cheaper than its foreign counterparts.
Hyundai Rotem said it performed an airtight test to examine the sealing ability of all hydrogen-related pipe connections, as well as an internal pressure test to determine if they can sustain specified gas pressures.
By 2040, the government intends to construct 1,200 hydrogen charging stations. Hyundai Rotem would manufacture the fundamental facilities needed to develop hydrogen infrastructures, such as mobile hydrogen charging stations and hydrogen injectors.
Anaerobic digestion by anaerobic microbes is the most common method of producing biogas. Food waste is decomposed by microorganisms in an anaerobic digestion tank to create biogas comprising methane and carbon dioxide at a food treatment plant in Chungju. Because of the huge benefit of lowering greenhouse emissions and cheap production costs, producing hydrogen from previously burnt and discarded biogas can help to stabilize hydrogen prices.
High prices have hampered the widespread use of biogas as a sustainable energy source. The Seoul administration has pledged to speed up the popularization and acceptance of biogas as part of a sustainable energy transition by removing regulatory barriers that have slowed biogas manufacturing.
