Korea's largest hydrogen production and sales company, Approtium, has completed the completion of its new plant 5 and will begin full-scale commercial operation.

According to Approtium on the 9th May, the newly built Plant 5, which is located on a site of about 9,740 square meters in the Bugok Yongyeon district of Ulsan's Mipo National Industrial Complex, with a building area of 2,514 square meters, took about a year from the start of construction in January last year to its completion, with a total project cost of 120 billion won.

It has the capacity to liquefy and store 270,000 tons of CO2 per year, and with the completion of Plant 5, Approtium has established a supply system for approximately 400,000 tons of liquefied CO2 per year.

The CO2 for liquefaction is captured during the hydrogen production process at the existing Ulsan Plants 2 and 3, with Approtium doubling the capture capacity at Plant 2 and adding a new capture facility at Plant 3. The captured CO2 is piped to the new Plant 5, where it is compressed, purified, cooled, and stored as high-purity liquid CO2. It will then be supplied to various customers, including semiconductors and e-commerce.

Approtium also plans to build an infrastructure to transport 300,000 tons of CO2 per year to the CCS temporary storage site at the Donghae Gas Field, located about 8.4 kilometers from Plant 5, in order to bury the CO2 generated at Ulsan Plant 2 and Plant 3 in the Donghae Gas Field.

Approtium plans to invest about 16 billion KRW to do so, which will further strengthen its capabilities as a clean hydrogen supplier and eco-friendly company.

“The operation of the new plants is expected to be an important turning point for the domestic hydrogen industry as well as the field of CO2 capture and utilization for carbon neutrality,” said Won Ki-don, CEO of Approtium. “Based on this, we will lead the era of carbon neutrality and clean hydrogen at the same time by resolving the imbalance in the supply and demand of liquid CO2 in Korea and contributing to the achievement of the national greenhouse gas reduction target (NDC) through synergy with the CCS business and clean hydrogen business of the Ulsan Donghae Gas Field.”

Ulsan Mayor Kim Doo-gyeom said, “The launch of five new large-scale carbon reduction facilities by Approtium, the largest hydrogen production company in Korea, is expected to enable Ulsan to play a more leading role in realizing carbon neutrality by 2050.” “We will prepare an ecosystem for carbon emission reduction through collaboration between the government, local governments, and companies.”

Meanwhile, since its establishment in 1964, Approtium has been expanding its plants through continuous capital investment, and recently signed a technology agreement with Denmat Sawmill to supply clean hydrogen through ammonia cracking.