Hanwha Ocean recognized for eco-friendly tech at Gastech 2023

South Korea's Hanwha Ocean Co. said on Friday that it had received key environmental certifications from two leading maritime classification societies at Gastech 2023, the world's largest gas-related exhibition.

The approvals came from Norway's Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), and cover a range of green technologies and shipping solutions developed by Hanwha.

The company won DNV's Approval in Principle (AIP) for cargo holds designed for 70,000 cubic meters of ultra-large liquefied carbon dioxide (LCO2) carriers. It also became the first South Korean shipyard to be certified as an underwater ship noise measurement agency.

Hanwha Ocean additionally secured the AIP from ABS for the development of the world's first large liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers with gas turbines that use ammonia as a fuel source and emit no carbon gases.

In tandem with these initiatives, Hanwha Ocean is working on specialized steel for cargo compartments to suit various sizes of LCO2 carriers and enhancing ship designs for optimal operational efficiency.

Meanwhile, Hanwha Power Systems, another unit under the Hanwha Group, has significantly increased the efficiency of its gas turbine systems by incorporating an exhaust gas heat recovery mechanism that utilizes supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) as the operating fluid. This technology has also received ABS approval.

The newly certified zero-emission vessels feature a host of advanced, eco-friendly technologies, including not only ammonia fuel supply systems but also air lubrication systems (ALS) and Hanwha's Smartship Solution (HS4).

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at fu@hankyung.com