SK E&S builds world's largest production base for blue hydrogen

South Korea's SK E&S has accelerated a blue hydrogen project in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, in what will be the world's largest complex of its kind.

The company on Tuesday said it received approval for a special case to produce clean hydrogen using cold heat from LNG and build and run liquefied hydrogen plants from the Deliberative Committee on Regulatory Exceptions for Industrial Convergence under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Approval of this regulatory sandbox enables the construction of infrastructure for economic mass production of blue hydrogen and supply of liquefied hydrogen.

SK E&S and Korea Midland Power jointly applied for a special case to build a massive complex to produce blue hydrogen in Boryeong.

Both companies will invest about 5 trillion won ($3.8 billion) to build the world's biggest production base for blue hydrogen near Boryeong LNG Terminal for annual output of 250,000 tons.

LNG cold heat will be used to make and liquefy blue hydrogen. For this purpose, an LNG pipeline is needed at the plant but this faced obstacles given the lack of related installation and inspection standards.

The approval of this project enables the use of LNG cold heat in the Boryeong project, opening the path to mass-produce blue hydrogen with higher eco-friendliness and economic feasibility.

Use of LNG cold heat is expected to cut costs through lower electricity consumption while also cutting about 156,000 tons of indirect CO2 emissions.

Kwon Hyung-kyun, head of SK E&S' hydrogen division, said, "By reducing costs and carbon emissions, we will supply the eco-friendly, safe and convenient blue hydrogen to the country."

Write to Seo-Woo Jang at suwu@hankyung.com