Dongsung Hwaintec Leads Government Project on Developing Insulation Material for Liquid Hydrogen Storage Tanks in Hydrogen Commercial Vehicles

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Dongsung FineTec announced on the 13th that it has been selected as the lead company for the national project "Development of Cryogenic Insulation Material Technology for Liquid Hydrogen Storage Vessels for Hydrogen Commercial Vehicles."

This national project is an R&D initiative by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to support the entire development cycle of insulation materials for liquid hydrogen storage vessels, aiming to secure global competitiveness in the domestic hydrogen commercial vehicle development sector. The project targets the development of cryogenic insulation materials, optimization of composite materials to ensure insulation performance, and development of performance assurance technology for cryogenic insulation materials applied to storage vessels. A budget of 19 billion KRW will be supported until 2025.

Dongsung FineTec, as the overall lead institution, will be responsible for the subtask of developing cryogenic insulation materials and optimizing composite materials to secure insulation performance. The total funding for this is 2.4 billion KRW. Key domestic hydrogen-related companies in the automotive market such as Parity, Iljin Hi-Solus, and Donghee Industry are participating in the consortium, along with the Korea Automotive Technology Institute’s Materials Technology Research Division and Hydrogen Storage and Charging Research Center, and Pusan National University.

A representative from Dongsung FineTec stated, "This is the first time in Korea that insulation materials for liquid hydrogen storage vessels for commercial vehicles are being developed. Securing insulation technology for liquid hydrogen storage tanks can extend the driving range per single charge, which is expected to have a significant ripple effect in the related fields. Dongsung FineTec plans to expand this technology to its core business area of shipbuilding and also gain opportunities to enter the automotive sector."

They added, "In addition to Dongsung FineTec, specialized hydrogen-related companies and institutions in the automotive field are participating together, so we expect synergy effects through open innovation as we carry out this national project covering the entire development cycle of liquid hydrogen storage vessels."

Meanwhile, Dongsung FineTec holds the largest order backlog in its history, having secured orders worth 680 billion KRW for LNG ship insulation materials and fuel tanks for the new LNG-powered ships business. In March, it jointly developed a liquefied hydrogen fuel tank with the American classification society ABS and obtained the basic certification (AIP) for the design.

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