"Beyond Hydrogen Vehicles to Hydrogen Energy" Hyundai Motor Signs MOU with Australian Research Institute for Production Technology Development

Australia's Largest Research Institute CSIRO and World's 4th Largest Iron Ore Producer FMG Join Forces

On the 18th, the "Hyundai Motor Company, CSIRO, and FMG MOU Signing Ceremony for the Development of Innovative Hydrogen Production Technology" was held via an online video conference. (From the top right clockwise) Julie Shuttleworth, Vice President of FMG; Ji Young-jo, President and Head of Hyundai Motor Company's Strategy and Technology Division; Peter Mayfield, Head of CSIRO's Environment, Energy, and Resources Division; and James Choi, Australian Ambassador to Korea, are posing for a commemorative photo. (Photo by Hyundai Motor Company)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] Hyundai Motor Company is accelerating the development of hydrogen energy-related technologies beyond hydrogen vehicles, drawing a big picture of the hydrogen economy. This time, it has partnered with Australian research institutions and companies to develop green hydrogen production technology and explore new hydrogen infrastructure businesses.

On the 20th, Hyundai Motor announced that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the 18th for the development of innovative hydrogen production technology with CSIRO, Australia's largest comprehensive research organization, and Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), the world's fourth-largest iron ore producer. The MOU signing ceremony was held via online video conference due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, attended by Jiyoung Jo, President of Hyundai’s Strategy and Technology Division, Peter Mayfield, Head of CSIRO’s Environment, Energy and Resources Division, and Julie Shuttleworth, Vice President of FMG. James Choi, Australian Ambassador to Korea, also joined to celebrate the hydrogen energy cooperation between the two countries.

President Jo said, "The development of innovative hydrogen supply infrastructure technology will contribute to revitalizing the hydrogen economy in Korea and Australia and accelerate the advent of a hydrogen society. Through this MOU, we expect to lay the foundation for global hydrogen infrastructure business cooperation based on clean hydrogen."

The main contents of the agreement include joint development of innovative hydrogen production technologies and products, and establishing a cooperative system to discover new hydrogen supply infrastructure businesses. The core is to commercialize innovative technologies related to hydrogen production, storage, and transportation infrastructure to reduce global hydrogen supply costs. Hyundai aims to accelerate the popularization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and take a step closer to realizing a hydrogen society through this.

Under this MOU, Hyundai, CSIRO, and FMG will collaborate based on technology that extracts high-purity hydrogen from ammonia using metal membranes developed by CSIRO. Above all, they plan to jointly develop technology to economically produce hydrogen from ammonia. If the technology to extract high-purity hydrogen from ammonia is commercialized, hydrogen produced based on Australia’s abundant renewable energy can be converted into ammonia form and safely transported to global markets.

Converting hydrogen into liquid ammonia compounds allows storing larger amounts of hydrogen and enables long-distance transportation. Additionally, unlike methods that extract hydrogen by decomposing natural gas, this method produces only hydrogen and nitrogen upon decomposition, making it more environmentally friendly, according to Hyundai.

Meanwhile, the Australian government has recently been actively expanding hydrogen infrastructure. Last November, the Australian Government Energy Council announced the "Australia National Hydrogen Strategy," presenting a blueprint for the government and industry to grow the hydrogen sector and transform hydrogen into a major energy export resource by 2030.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.