SEOUL, KOREA - Korea's largest hydrogen producer Deokyang Energen Corp. is currently building a 100-billion-won plant capable of producing 50,000 normal cubic meters of gas in an hour in Ulsan near an SK Energy plant.
Lee Chi-Yoon, president of Deokyang Energen, said, "Once the 33,000-square-meter plant is completed by July next year, the whole output of refined hydrogen whose purity is over 99.9 percent will be sold to SK Energy that will use it for the desulfurization process." Deokyang Energen plans to build a fourth plant with a capacity of 70,000 normal cubic meters per hour, also in Ulsan.
According to the Ulsan city government on December 9, the city government officials and leaders of local companies have agreed to create a hydrogen economy in their city. They held a meeting on the same day to discuss the establishment of a Korea Hydrogen Industry Association to be launched in January next year. As many as 300 companies, including Hyundai Motor, SK Energy, S-Oil, Samsung BP, Kolon Industries, and Korea PTG, will participate in the association as founding members.
The reason Ulsan city is leading the charge to create a hydrogen ecosystem is that the city accounts for about 60 percent of 1.5 million tons of hydrogen produced within the country in a year. In addition, Hyundai Motor's Ulsan plant set up in March this year a mass-production line for its hydrogen fuel-cell car model Tucson ix. The company plans to produce up to 1,000 fuel-cell cars by 2015.
In July this year, the "Green Hydrogen Town," a community of 140 families using hydrogen for their energy needs, was open in Ulju within the city. The residents of the community pay an average of 10,000 won a month for heating bills even when they turn the heater in full blast all day long.
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