PK Valve & Engineering Develops Korea's First Valve for Liquefied Hydrogen

Development of 3-Inch Globe Valve for Liquefied Hydrogen

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] STX's subsidiary and Korea's largest industrial valve specialist, PK Valve & Engineering, announced on the 26th that it has developed the country's first valve for liquefied hydrogen.

The '3-inch globe valve for liquefied hydrogen' developed by PK Valve is made of 316L stainless steel forging, which can be directly applied to liquefied hydrogen storage containers at minus 253°C. It was completed after about three years of research and development, including studies on heat transfer, concept design, device design to secure insulation performance, heat transfer simulation, prototype production, and performance testing. It completed cryogenic (-196°C) testing from the representative global certification body in the hydrogen field, Germany's TUV, and passed both shell and seat tests, which check fluid leakage and shutoff levels, with zero levels below the allowable limits.

Hydrogen liquefies at an ultra-low temperature of minus 253°C and continuously vaporizes above that temperature. Therefore, the core technology of valves for liquefied hydrogen is to minimize vapor gas generation and stably maintain liquefied hydrogen. Due to the high level of technology required, only imported products are currently used domestically. PK Valve designed to block heat transfer such as convection, radiation, and conduction through its own technology. In other words, it created a structure that can maintain a high vacuum by installing a jacket outside the valve and optimized the thickness of multilayer insulation (MLI).

PK Valve supplied this 3-inch globe valve for liquefied hydrogen to Hylium Industries, Korea's first specialized liquefied hydrogen company. Hylium Industries is currently manufacturing liquefied hydrogen storage tanks to be supplied to the United States, and the valves developed by PK Valve will be installed in these tanks as well as liquefied hydrogen charging stations in the U.S. Having started exports to the U.S. simultaneously with development, PK Valve plans to intensify domestic and international business after completing tank demonstration tests in the U.S. early next year.

PK Valve & Engineering CEO Youngchan Jeon said, "Hydrogen is gaining attention as an eco-friendly future energy source, and demand is increasing both domestically and internationally, but infrastructure for liquid hydrogen is still lacking compared to gaseous hydrogen in Korea." He added, "PK Valve has introduced the first liquefied hydrogen valve in Korea to proactively respond to the liquefied hydrogen market, which is essential for intercontinental and land transportation." He further stated, "Based on the technology applied to large-capacity storage facilities, we will expand our business scope to related industries such as ultra-low temperature international standard containers (ISO containers), hydrogen fuel cell ships, and automobiles, accelerating the spread of liquefied hydrogen infrastructure."