Hanwha Aerospace Launches Development of Hydrogen Fuel Cell System for Aviation

Hanwha Aerospace Pangyo R&D Center exterior. (Photo by Hanwha Aerospace)

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Hanwha Aerospace announced on the 3rd that it will develop a hydrogen fuel cell system that can be used for Urban Air Mobility (UAM).

Hanwha Aerospace recently won a project titled "Development of Lightweight Fuel Cell Technology for Aviation Mobility," announced by the Korea Energy Technology Evaluation Institute under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The project is expected to have a total budget of approximately 21 billion KRW over four years, and Hanwha Aerospace plans to secure core technologies for aviation hydrogen fuel cells, such as improving fuel cell performance and system lightweighting, by 2025.

To this end, Hanwha Aerospace has formed an industry-academia-research consortium including several domestic small and medium-sized enterprises with capabilities in hydrogen fuel cell technology development and patent achievements.

Hydrogen fuel cells are power generation systems that produce electricity through the chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. Unlike conventional fossil fuels, they produce no byproducts other than pure water, making them a renewable energy source suitable for carbon neutrality and eco-friendly Green New Deal policies. Additionally, hydrogen fuel cells are lighter than existing lithium-ion batteries, making them a promising next-generation energy source for UAM. In particular, hydrogen fuel cells have high energy density, which can significantly extend UAM flight time and range compared to batteries.

A Hanwha Aerospace official stated, "Based on the development experience and advanced technologies accumulated through aerospace engine projects such as the Korean launch vehicle Nuri (KSLV-II) and the Korean fighter jet Boramae (KF-21) engines, as well as various commercial aircraft engine parts, we believe we can succeed in this national project." He added, "Through the success of this project, we will secure core technologies for UAM electric propulsion systems and, in the long term, expand the business to electric propulsion systems for small and medium-sized aircraft."

Meanwhile, according to the Korean Urban Air Mobility Roadmap (K-UAM) announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in 2020, the UAM market is expected to grow to a global market size of 730 trillion KRW by 2040.

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