Hydrogen production and charging during the food waste disposal process… First nationwide construction in Chungju
Produces 500kg of high purity hydrogen per day from 2600㎥ of biomethane gas
A bird’s-eye view of Korea’s first biogas-based hydrogen convergence charging station to be opened in Chungju, Chungbuk in May.
The era of hydrogen cars that run on food waste as fuel will be opened. Chungbuk-do announced on the 25th that it will build a hydrogen fusion charging station using biogas near the food and beverage bioenergy center in Bongbang-dong, Chungju in May. The Food Bio Energy Center was completed in 2016 and produces about 7500㎥ of biogas per day in the process of collecting and processing 55-60 tons of food waste in Chungju. The hydrogen convergence station is going to purify and store the hydrogen used by hydrogen cars, using biogas generated in the process of disposing of food waste for the first time in the country. This project was selected as a public offering project by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in 2019, and after two years of research, it has completed stable hydrogen purification and storage technology by investing 12.19 billion won including government funds. The food waste hydrogen gas filling business is a joint venture between local governments, research institutes, and enterprises. Chungbuk-do and Chungju-si provide administrative and financial support, and six research institutes and companies participate. Hydrogen charging station design (Hyosung), hydrogen storage system construction (Vitzronextech), biogas hydrogen purification and nitrification (Seojin Energy), economic analysis and commercialization (Industrial Research Institute), hydrogen charging station integrated system construction (Korea Advanced Technology Research Institute), charging station It was divided into labor such as system construction (Chungbuk Techno Park). They plan to produce around 500kg of high purity hydrogen of 99.995% or more per day through a process of purification and compression of biogas produced at the Food and Bioenergy Center in Chungju. Seong-gyun Park, director of the Chungju Food and Waste Bio Center, said, “During the food waste treatment process every day, we produce about 7500㎥ of biogas, and then re-produce about 2600㎥ of biomethane gas after refining and compression. It plans to produce high-purity hydrogen.” As it is a method that directly produces and uses hydrogen at a hydrogen charging station, it is expected that the effect of reducing hydrogen fuel costs will be great. Currently, hydrogen produced in Ulsan, Yeosu, Jeollanam-do, and Daesan, Chungcheongnam-do are delivered to hydrogen charging stations nationwide by trucks, which incur significant logistics costs. Hyung-nyeon Kim, head of the Chungbuk-do energy department, said, “It costs about 4,000~4500 won, which is half of the hydrogen gas charge (8,000~8800 won per kg) to transport hydrogen from Ulsan to Chungju. Hydrogen convergence charging stations are’on-site charging stations’ that charge (sell) hydrogen directly from the place where hydrogen was produced, and can greatly reduce logistics costs. “It will be possible to supply hydrogen at least 10% cheaper to the surrounding area.” When the era of hydrogen fusion fueling stations using biogas opens, the supply of local hydrogen vehicles is expected to increase significantly. In Chungbuk, hydrogen charging stations have been installed in Cheongju, Chungju, and Jecheon, and 323 hydrogen cars (as of November last year) have been supplied. Sang-Hoon Cho, the supervisor of the Chungbuk-do energy industry team, said, “The hydrogen fusion charging station will effectively utilize the discarded resources and accelerate the hydrogen society. It will also contribute to the popularization of hydrogen energy as it can supply hydrogen at a lower price.” By Oh Yoon-ju, reporter [email protected], photo courtesy of Chungbuk-do