Hanwha Solutions Acquires US High-Pressure Tank Company 'Simaron'

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] Hanwha Solutions has acquired Simaron, a U.S. high-pressure tank company that started as an in-house venture at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Hanwha Solutions announced on the 28th that it has signed a contract to acquire 100% of the shares of Simaron, a U.S. high-pressure tank company.

Simaron was founded in 2008 as an in-house venture by Tom Delaney, who worked as a researcher in the aerospace materials field at NASA for 23 years. It became independent from NASA in 2015 and currently produces large hydrogen tanks and aerospace tanks.

Tom Delaney holds numerous patents for high-pressure tanks for spacecraft.

Hanwha Solutions plans to complete the acquisition of Simaron by April next year after undergoing review by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment. Including the acquisition cost, it will invest $100 million in Simaron by 2025.

According to Hanwha Solutions, Simaron is recognized for possessing technology to manufacture hydrogen tanks that are lighter and safer than those of competitors.

Simaron’s Neptune tank is a Type 4 composite material tank with an ultra-large capacity (2000ℓ) that can store hydrogen at the highest pressure in the world (517 bar) among tanks of the same capacity.

When Neptune tanks are loaded onto a 40-foot (approximately 12m) hydrogen transport tube trailer, it can carry 1200 kg of hydrogen at once. This is about four times the transport volume compared to Type 1 steel tanks currently used domestically, significantly reducing hydrogen transportation costs.

In particular, Simaron’s high-pressure tanks apply differentiated material and structural technologies accumulated during the development of space and aerospace tanks, enabling 100% use of the gas without any residue.

If the remaining gas volume in a high-pressure gas tank falls below 10% of the total tank capacity, destructive phenomena due to tank contraction occur. Hanwha Solutions introduced that Simaron solved this technical issue, enhancing safety and efficiency.

Simaron supplied prototype high-pressure tanks to SpaceX, a commercial spacecraft company founded by Elon Musk in 2010, and has been selling tanks used in SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets since 2014.

With the acquisition of Simaron, Hanwha Solutions has secured technologies for hydrogen transport tube trailer tanks, ultra-high-pressure tanks for charging stations, and aerospace tanks in addition to existing hydrogen vehicle tanks.

Through this, Hanwha Solutions aims to further expand its green hydrogen business and become the world’s number one company in the high-pressure tank market by 2030.

In December last year, Hanwha Solutions also acquired the hydrogen tank business of domestic company Taekwang Fujikin.

Domestically, Hanwha will produce tanks applied to hydrogen-based unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), passenger cars, and commercial vehicles through Taekwang Fujikin, and internationally, it will produce large hydrogen transport trailers and charging station tanks through Simaron.

Hanwha plans to expand the market by utilizing Simaron’s aerospace tank technology into urban air mobility (UAM), aerospace, and liquefied gas tanks for ships.

Ryu Doo-hyung, head of Hanwha Solutions’ Advanced Materials Division, said, "We will further advance tank technology and expand global business," adding, "With the goal of becoming the global number one in the high-pressure tank market by 2030, we will play a key role in the hydrogen ecosystem."

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