Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- Hanwha General Chemical joined hands with a domestic power supplier affiliated with South Korea's state electric utility KEPCO to develop and demonstrate mixed hydrogen combustion technologies that burn natural gas together with hydrogen to generate electricity.

Korea Western Power agreed to provide an 80-megawatt gas turbine in Pyeongtaek, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Seoul. Hanwha General Chemical will use the turbine to test mixed hydrogen generation, which has been introduced to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at power stations.

The deal came after Hanwha General Chemical acquired two gas turbine companies, Power Systems Mfg (PSM) and Ansaldo Thomassen (ATH), which are affiliates of Ansaldo Energia, an Italian power engineering company, and possess combustion technologies using the mix of natural gas and hydrogen

Personnel from Hanwha General Chemical, PSM, ATH, and Korea Western Power will work together to demonstrate technologies and apply them to existing combined cycle power plants that use gas and steam. The most common method to generate power from natural gas uses gas turbine generators.

Hanwha General Chemical aims to reduce carbon dioxide by 100 percent by gradually replacing natural gas with hydrogen. "We will work with partners who already possess the world's best mixed-hydrogen combustion technology to establish global leadership," Hanwha General Chemical CEO Park Heung-gweon said in a statement.