We’ve brokered a partnership between our “waste gas-to-value” client Utility Global and the engineering arm of Hanwha Corporation – South Korea’s seventh largest company – to explore ways to produce hydrogen from biogas in Korea and beyond.
Houston-headquartered Utility Global has developed a platform which generates hydrogen from waste gases produced by hard-to-abate industrial processes including steel making, petrochemical production and wastewater treatment.
Hanwha Corporation is a $65 billion turnover, Fortune Global 500 company spanning the energy, construction, materials, aerospace, finance and retail sectors. Founded in 1952, it’s highly focused on pioneering developments in clean energy and sustainability.
Utility Global and Hanwha Corporation/Engineering & Construction will now trial ways to produce hydrogen from biogas and evaluate the option of building a production plant in Korea.
The ultimate focus for the partnership is likely to be on wastewater treatment plants in Korea and potentially other countries. Hanwha would install and operate the anaerobic digestion equipment to produce biogas, with Utility Global installing and running its hydrogen production reactors.
Hanwha estimates that South Korea will invest $20 billion by 2050 in anaerobic digestion equipment to produce biogas – with 13 wastewater biogas projects already under way. The ability to turn this into hydrogen in a low-cost, energy-efficient manner is of huge importance to the country.
Dillan Fernando, CCO of Utility (left) with Sang Hun Won, SVP of Hanwha
This partnership is the latest result of the business development programmes we’ve been running for Utility Global since February in South Korea and Japan, with our Seoul and Tokyo teams approaching their connections in industrial companies on our client’s behalf. It’s the second we’ve secured, following an arrangement with a major Korean gas company.
Dillan Fernando, Chief Commercial Officer at Utility Global, said: “Our agreement with Hanwha is a milestone in our company’s international expansion. The corporation has a great reputation in Korea and it’s committed to playing its part in creating a more sustainable world.
“Our partnership is the result of an outstanding effort by Intralink. In 30 years of chemical industry experience, I’ve never seen a company start from scratch and achieve such impressive results in a short amount of time, especially with a new technology. It’s a pleasure working with such a focused team.”
If you’d like to explore the potential for your tech business in Asia, contact Chris Lee at chris.lee@intralinkgroup.com.