South Korea to import hydrogen from Malaysia, UAE

The South Korean government plans to start importing hydrogen produced in Malaysia and the UAE by 2027 for power generation and export after conversion into ammonia, BusinessKorea reported on January 9.

The hydroelectric power generation-based hydrogen produced in Malaysia is scheduled to be supplied by Samsung Engineering and Lotte Chemical. In the UAE, Korea Electric Power Corporation and Samsung C&T will produce hydrogen using solar power. The supplies from the two countries are estimated at 600,000 and 200,000 metric tons/year, respectively, the news portal reported.

The government at present is testing hydrogen-LNG fuel mixed combustion. It believes a carbon reduction of 10% can be reached when the hydrogen content in LNG fuel combustion is 30%. The carbon reduction rises to 21% at 50% hydrogen content and 52% at 80%. In addition, it is planning to use ammonia to reduce carbon emissions from coal-based power generation, BusinessKorea reported.