SK Gas invests in Bill Gates-backed hydrogen tech startup

SK Gas Co., the top liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) company in South Korea, has invested in Series B funding for C-Zero Inc., a California-based startup developing technologies for decarbonizing natural gas. 

The funding size has not been disclosed under the terms of the contract, an SK Gas official told The Korea Economic Daily.
 
The US startup has developed a methane pyrolysis technology that uses thermal energy to break natural gas into turquoise hydrogen and solid carbon. Turquoise hydrogen is known to have lower production costs and lower emissions than other types of hydrogen, and the decarbonizing technology can be used in various industries including electrical generation, process heating and the production of commodity hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles. 

In February, C-Zero raised $11.5 million in a Series A funding round co-led by venture capital firms Eni Next and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, of which the chair of the board is Bill Gates. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and AP Ventures also participated in the funding. C-Zero is expected to announce the details of the Series B funding round in early 2022.

Meanwhile, the Korean conglomerate SK Group’s gas unit is accelerating the expansion of its hydrogen businesses. SK Gas has invested 2.2 trillion won ($1.9 billion) in the construction of a 140,000-square-meter hydrogen complex in Ulsan, a southeastern port city of Korea. The construction will be completed in 2025, according to the gas company.

In Oct. 2020, it partnered with Korean liquid hydrogen manufacturing tech firm Hylium Industries Inc. to expand its hydrogen manufacturing business as part of efforts to diversify beyond the shrinking LPG market. SK Gas’ affiliate Korea Energy Terminal Co. is also building a liquefied natural gas storage terminal in Ulsan with a capacity of 2.7 million barrels. 

SK is active in founding joint ventures for hydrogen investment as well. In October, SK Group's holding company SK Inc. agreed to set up a turquoise hydrogen JV in Korea with Monolith Materials Inc., the world's first mass producer of turquoise hydrogen. 

In May, SK Gas and Korean conglomerate Lotte Group signed a contract to establish a JV to strengthen their hydrogen infrastructure and create new revenue streams. The new venture will supply byproduct hydrogen produced at SK Gas and Lotte Chemical plants to hydrogen charging stations across Korea, SK Gas said at the time.  

Write to Chang-Jae Yoo at yoocool@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.