[Upcoming Hydrogen Economy] World’s No.1 Shipbuilder’s 'Hydrogen Dream'… Jeong Gi-seon “Here Lies the Solution to Carbon Neutrality”

2021 'Hydrogen Dream 2030' Roadmap Announcement
Consolidating Affiliate Technologies to Build Hydrogen Value Chain
Producing Hydrogen at Sea... Transporting by Hydrogen Ships

Jung Ki-sun, the third-generation head of the Hyundai family leading the world's number one shipbuilding company, HD Hyundai, has found the solution to carbon neutrality in hydrogen. His goal is to open a world where hydrogen is produced at sea by 2030 and transported by hydrogen-powered ships. This is a vision only a shipbuilding company can establish. HD Hyundai Oilbank, the refining affiliate, and the machinery affiliates HD Hyundai Electric and HD Hyundai Construction Equipment will join forces in hydrogen distribution and hydrogen fuel cell facilities.

HD Hyundai Group announced the ‘Hydrogen Dream 2030’ roadmap in March 2021. At that time, Ga Sam-hyun, Vice Chairman of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, said, “We will present a perfect blueprint for renewable energy and offshore infrastructure that no other company has proposed.”

President Jeong Gi-seon of HD Hyundai and Secretary-General Lim Ki-taek of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) pose for a commemorative photo at the Nor-shipping 2023 shipbuilding and marine exhibition held in Oslo, Norway, on the 8th of last month. The IMO agreed at the 80th Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting on the 7th of this month that greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping must be reduced to zero by 2050.
[Photo by HD Hyundai]

The core is to consolidate the infrastructure and technological competitiveness of each affiliate within the group to build a ‘hydrogen value chain.’ At the second general meeting of the ‘Korea H2 Business Summit,’ where the heads of the group gathered last month, Chairman Jung said, “We are striving to build a hydrogen value chain continuing at sea, including green hydrogen technology and liquefied hydrogen carriers,” adding, “The hydrogen business is difficult for any single company to undertake.”

HD Hyundai Group plans to complete the ‘offshore power generation - hydrogen production infrastructure - offshore transportation - storage and utilization’ value chain. The shipbuilding companies within the group?HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard?and the intermediate holding company HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering will be responsible for hydrogen transportation, production, and supply. They will produce green hydrogen using world-class offshore plant power generation and water electrolysis technology and develop hydrogen carriers to supply it stably.

On May 2021, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering signed a business agreement with nine local governments and industry-academia-research institutions to begin developing a green hydrogen plant that produces hydrogen from seawater using water electrolysis technology. Electricity is generated from offshore wind turbines, and that electricity is used to split water (water electrolysis, 水電解) to produce green hydrogen. HD Hyundai Oilbank is focusing on blue hydrogen production.

Conceptual image of a liquefied hydrogen carrier ship under development by HD Hyundai Group [Photo provided by HD Hyundai]

Blue hydrogen refers to hydrogen produced from fossil fuels like gray hydrogen, but it uses carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to reduce atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide generated during the process. The ultimate eco-friendly hydrogen that emits no carbon dioxide at all is called green hydrogen. Green hydrogen is obtained by electrolyzing water using electricity generated from new and renewable energy sources.

HD Hyundai Oilbank plans to produce hydrogen by importing LPG from Aramco, the world's largest oil company, and is collaborating with the global hydrogen company Air Products to secure production technology. Blue hydrogen will be used in desulfurization facilities or sold as fuel for vehicles and power generation. To this end, about 180 hydrogen charging stations will be established nationwide by 2030.

The ships that transport hydrogen will also be made eco-friendly. HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries are developing hydrogen fuel cell propulsion ships that use hydrogen as a propulsion power source. These ships emit no air pollutants such as sulfur oxides or nitrogen oxides and can improve energy efficiency by more than 40% compared to internal combustion engines. At the end of last year, they succeeded in demonstrating an LNG-hydrogen dual-fuel engine, which can be considered the first step toward a hydrogen engine, for the first time in Korea. This is proprietary technology. In September last year, they also received DNV class certification for the hydrogen carrier system applying this engine. An HD Hyundai official said, “By 2025, we will develop a complete hydrogen engine and complete the establishment of a hydrogen ecosystem on land and sea.”

Last year, employees at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' Environmental Verification Center tested the performance of a 1.5MW-class LNG-hydrogen dual-fuel Himsen (HiMSEN) engine.
[Photo by HD Hyundai]

Since last month, they have also entered the development of ‘large liquefied hydrogen cargo tank’ technology. A liquefied hydrogen cargo tank is a core facility that stores hydrogen in liquefied form. HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering formed a consortium with 14 institutions in Europe, including the American Bureau of Shipping and Dresden University of Technology, to secure original technology and capture global standards. This consortium will invest 10 million euros (about 14 billion KRW) over four years to develop a 160,000 m³-class liquefied hydrogen cargo tank. HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering is responsible for conceptual and basic design.

The machinery affiliates are pioneering the development of medium-to-large construction equipment powered by hydrogen fuel cells for the first time in the industry. HD Hyundai Construction Equipment has set a goal to develop the world’s first 14-ton hydrogen wheel excavator and mass-produce it by 2025. HD Hyundai Site Solutions succeeded in developing Korea’s first 5-ton medium-sized hydrogen forklift in 2020 in partnership with Hyundai Motor Company and Hyundai Mobis, and is currently developing hydrogen fuel cell power packs for 1-3 ton forklifts together with the hydrogen specialist company S-Fuel Cell. HD Hyundai Electric, which focuses on high-voltage circuit breakers and transformers used in substations, plans to build eco-friendly and noiseless hydrogen fuel cell power generation facilities.