Burckhardt to deliver process gas compressors to South Korea

The compressors will be used in parallel for higher liquefaction capacity.

Burckhardt Compression will deliver three Process Gas Compressor API618 systems to compress hydrogen at a liquefaction plant in South Korea. The new installation in South Korea is the largest hydrogen liquefication plant worldwide and is part of the country’s strategy to develop hydrogen as a clean energy. 

The South Korean conglomerate SK Group announced plans earlier this year to invest $1.65 billion over the next five years to develop the country’s hydrogen industry. Part of that plan is to construct a hydrogen liquefaction plant by 2023. The plant will produce 280,000 mt/year of hydrogen made from liquefied natural gas. The plant will be built in two stages, the first starting at 30,000 mt/year of liquefied hydrogen. The plant will be built on a site within the SK Incheon Petrochemical Complex, IHS reported.

Burckhardt Compression will supply the plant with three compressor systems, including auxiliaries, with a shaft power of 6.6 MW per compressor. The compressors will be used in parallel for higher liquefaction capacity and to increase the pressure of the supplied hydrogen from atmospheric pressure up to 58 bar. The three compressor systems are part of a portfolio of hydrogen compressors that Burckhardt offers for a variety of applications.

The plant is part of a larger policy goal of the Korean government to transition to hydrogen, the International Energy Agency reports. The government wants to increase the number of hydrogen-powered cars from 4000 in 2019 to 6.2 million by 2040 and to make the country the largest producer of hydrogen-powered cars and fuel cells globally by 2030.

South Korea currently has about 14 charging stations, but the government has plans to increase the number to 310 by 2022 and 1200 in by 2040. The government also plans to introduce 40,000 hydrogen-fueled buses, 80,000 hydrogen taxis and 30,000 hydrogen trucks, the IEA reported.

The government also has plans to support the development of hydrogen ships, trains and industrial machinery and will promote the manufacturing of fuel cells and power generation to reach a combined capacity of 15 GW by 2040.