Coal-fired power generation has been pointed out as one of the most carbon-producing pollutants. That's why the government, which has set its goal of "2050 Carbon Neutral," is pushing to shut down 24 coal power plants by 2030.
Hydrogen-enriched power generation is the most realistic first step toward 'carbon zero'.
Hanwha General Chemical will be the first company in Korea to have "hydrogen enriched" power generation technology. Hydrogen enriched generation can dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions by burning hydrogen and natural gas together in a gas turbine. This is because it acquired a global gas turbine service company.
Hanwha General Chemical announced on March 22 that it has signed a contract with PSM (Power Systems Mfg., LLC) of the U.S. to acquire 100 percent stake in ATH (Ansaldo Thomasen B.V.) of the Netherlands.
The two companies are subsidiaries of the global gas turbine company Ansaldo Energia, which has the world's best gas turbine life and performance improvement and hydrogen enriched modification technology.
Hanwha General Chemical explained, "We have a technology that can reduce carbon dioxide generation by more than 30% compared to existing natural gas (LNG) power generation and dramatically reduce NOx generation, the cause of fine dust."
Another advantage is that old gas turbines at LNG power plants can be converted and used at a low cost. Because low-purity hydrogen is used, it is more economical than fuel cell power generation, which requires 99.99% high-purity hydrogen.
Hanwha signed an acquisition contract on March 19 and plans to complete the acquisition process by June after finishing the screening of the U.S. Foreign Investment Review Committee.
Although South Korea has started to develop hydrogen enriched technology, it has not yet reached the stage where it can be used in industries. PSM/ATH, which Hanwha acquired this time, has already commercialized hydrogen enriched technology in the U.S. and Europe.
Park Heung-kwon, CEO of Hanwha General Chemical, said, "We have secured hydrogen enriched technology that can drastically reduce the amount of carbon and nitrogen oxides (NOx), in addition to gas turbine technology that relied on imports.”
