Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
Hyundai Motor forges partnership with Canadian hydrogen firm to develop water electrolysis system
Oh Jae-hyuk, vice president and head of Energy Business Development at Hyundai Motor Group, poses with Raveel Afzaal, president and CEO of Next Hydrogen, after signing a partnership, in this photo provided by the Korean automaker, Friday. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group
By Baek Byung-yeul
By Baek Byung-yeul
Hyundai Motor Group has signed a partnership with Next Hydrogen, a Canada-based company specializing in producing hydrogen from renewable sources, to cooperate in the development of water electrolysis technology to produce green hydrogen more economically, the automaker said Friday.
While hydrogen has emerged as an alternative to fossil fuel, there has been the drawback of the high cost and excessive energy consumption in producing the gas.
Currently, 95 percent of global hydrogen production is based on fossil fuels, which is called grey hydrogen. This is the most economic method, but industry analysts forecast more hydrogen companies will move toward blue or green hydrogen, because grey hydrogen emits greenhouse gases during the production phase.
Blue hydrogen is made of natural gas and emits less CO2, while green hydrogen is the cleanest as it uses renewable energy by producing the gas from water.
Hyundai Motor Group, one of the leading companies in hydrogen fuel cell technology in Korea, thinks green hydrogen will eventually become the most effective type and said the partnership with the Canadian company will help improve its capability in the sector.
“Under the agreement, the companies will jointly develop an alkaline water electrolysis system and its related stack for the purpose of generating green hydrogen economically, and explore new business opportunities and technological applications,” Hyundai said in a statement.
“Among the various methods of water electrolysis, the alkaline water electrolysis system is regarded as technologically one of the most rigorously tested and proven means with a long track record of research and development. Also, it has the advantage of being able to produce large amounts of hydrogen and uses relatively inexpensive catalysts, making facility costs low,” the automotive group added.
The group recently introduced “HTWO,” a new brand representing its state-of-the-art hydrogen fuel cell system. It has been increasing efforts to develop a next-generation hydrogen fuel cell system that will be used in various mobility platforms such as urban air mobility, automobiles, ships and trains.