"K-Cold Chain Leads"... FMS Korea Develops Special Refrigerant for Vaccines

Development of AZ Vaccine Transport Box... Supplied by KDCA, Ministry of National Defense, etc.
Price 30-40% Lower than Foreign Products... "Will Also Target UN Procurement"
ESG as a Pillar of Technology Development... Reduces CO2 Emissions to 25%
Developed Recyclable Ice Packs... Collaboration with Suwon City and Local Governments

The special refrigerant 'PCM' developed by FMS Korea was used for domestic transportation of the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] FMS Korea is the first company in South Korea to develop a refrigerant solution for transporting COVID-19 vaccines. When the country’s first COVID-19 vaccine, AstraZeneca (AZ), was transported in February, the special refrigerant ‘PCM’ developed by FMS Korea was used. However, vaccine transportation requires a cold chain system that manages the entire distribution process. This means that refrigerants alone cannot transport vaccines.

Standardization of Vaccine Transport Boxes...Emerging as a ‘Cold Chain Partner’

The company also designed a dedicated pharmaceutical transport box for the AZ vaccine. The technology secured through collaboration with global companies served as the foundation. A representative example is the application of SLENTEX, an advanced material from BASF, a leading German chemical company, to the box. It also includes measuring equipment that can monitor temperature in real time and check the remaining maintenance time. The box can maintain the temperature required for AZ vaccine transport (2~8℃) for 72 to 120 hours. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Ministry of National Defense, and Ministry of Food and Drug Safety use FMS Korea’s vaccine transport boxes.

Pharmaceutical transport box developed by FMS Korea.
Photo by FMS Korea

Choi Dong-ho, CEO of FMS Korea, was not satisfied with this. He is currently working on standardizing vaccine transport boxes. There are no domestic or international standards for vaccine transport boxes yet. In this situation, if the company can capture the market with a product that can become the industry standard, the growth potential of vaccine transport boxes is limitless, according to CEO Choi. This is because the boxes can be used not only for COVID-19 but also for vaccines for various diseases, and there are forecasts that COVID-19 may become endemic. CEO Choi said, “FMS Korea’s boxes are 30~40% cheaper than overseas products, giving them price competitiveness,” adding, “We can participate not only in domestic public procurement but also in procurement by international organizations such as the United Nations (UN), which supplies vaccines to developing countries.”

The field where FMS Korea shows strength is bio. However, the company is emerging as a reliable ‘cold chain partner’ in various industries such as food and semiconductors. SPC Group and SK Hynix are major clients. With SPC Group, they provide a solution for stable dry ice supply, and with SK Hynix, they are developing SOP (System on Package), a semiconductor packaging technology. CEO Choi said, “The pharmaceutical sector has relatively good margins,” but added, “The food and semiconductor sectors have not only large market sizes but also great growth potential.”

Focus on ESG...Cutting CO2 Emissions by Half

Another pillar of research and development (R&D) for acquiring new technologies is ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance). The company’s special refrigerant PCM is a representative example. The social trend demanding eco-friendly products motivated CEO Choi to focus on ESG. He said, “(ESG) helps suppliers differentiate their products in the market,” and added, “I also believed that without making eco-friendly products, it would be impossible to secure sustainable management.”

Exterior view of FMS Korea headquarters located in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi.
Photo by Lee Junhyung

The recently introduced ‘Dry Ice Recovery System’ is another achievement gained by accelerating ESG management. This system is a kind of carbon dioxide (CO2) capture device. The raw material for dry ice is liquefied carbon dioxide (LCO2), but about half of it evaporates and disappears during production. A significant portion of the raw material is lost, and the emitted gas is carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, which increases production costs and inevitably causes environmental pollution. FMS Korea’s recovery system captures the evaporated carbon dioxide and reuses it in the dry ice manufacturing process, reducing CO2 emissions to about 25%.

With this technological capability, the company was selected last year for the Green New Deal Promising Companies project, hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Ministry of Environment. This project focuses on nurturing promising small and medium enterprises in the green new deal sector promoted by the government. The company will receive R&D and commercialization funding worth 3 billion KRW through the Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs (TIPA) by 2022. CEO Choi’s goal is to develop technology valued at over 100 billion KRW with this funding.

Choi Dong-ho, CEO of FMS Korea, is explaining the recyclable ice pack currently under development.
Photo by Lee Jun-hyung

Development of Recyclable Ice Packs...Collaboration with Local Governments

The company is currently actively developing eco-friendly ice packs in collaboration with several local governments. Existing ice packs have been at the center of environmental controversy due to microplastics in their refrigerants. As an alternative, ice packs made by freezing water in paper have emerged, but these products do not achieve complete eco-friendliness either. This is because the paper is laminated with a waterproof film inside, making recycling difficult. There is also the problem that the ice packs often burst due to weak durability, making them unsuitable for transporting sensitive products such as pharmaceuticals. Some companies pay environmental fees and continue to use existing ice packs containing microplastics.

CEO Choi’s solution is a technology that recycles discarded PET bottles to make containers for ice packs. The technology development is already in its final stages. However, cooperation from local governments is essential for full-scale commercialization. Without a smooth supply of PET bottles collected by local governments, the technology would be useless. The company has already completed a first pilot project with Suwon City, and several local governments are considering demonstration adoption. CEO Choi emphasized, “Our mid- to long-term goal is to expand the business to Seoul and the entire Gyeonggi Province,” adding, “The developed containers are made from discarded PET bottles and can be recycled 30 to 40 times as is, significantly reducing social costs.”

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