Lotte Chemical Accelerates Commercialization of Hydrogen Tanks for Hydrogen Vehicles

Lotte Aluminum Incheon Plant Hydrogen Tank Mass Production Pilot Facility
Capable of Producing 15,000 Medium-Sized Hydrogen Tanks Annually

Lotte Chemical announced on the 7th that it held a completion ceremony for the pilot process facility for hydrogen storage containers at the Lotte Aluminum Incheon plant on the 6th. Attendees included Kim Gyo-hyun, Chief Executive Officer of Lotte Group's Chemical Division; Hwang Jin-gu, Head of Basic Materials Business at Lotte Chemical (also Head of the Hydrogen Energy Business Unit); Lee Young-jun, Head of Advanced Materials Business at Lotte Chemical (also Head of the Battery Materials Business Unit); Cho Hyun-chul, CEO of Lotte Aluminum; and Moon Jae-do, Chairman of the Hydrogen Convergence Alliance.

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Lotte Chemical is moving forward with the commercialization of hydrogen storage tanks, a core component of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).

On the 6th, Lotte Chemical announced on the 7th that it held a completion ceremony for a pilot hydrogen storage tank production facility at Lotte Aluminum's Incheon plant. Attendees included Kim Gyo-hyun, Chief Representative of Lotte Group's Chemical Division; Hwang Jin-gu, Head of Lotte Chemical's Basic Materials Business (also Head of Hydrogen Energy Business Unit); Lee Young-jun, Head of Lotte Chemical's Advanced Materials Business (also Head of Battery Materials Business Unit); Cho Hyun-chul, CEO of Lotte Aluminum; and Moon Jae-do, Chairman of the Hydrogen Convergence Alliance.

The facility, covering approximately 1,488㎡, is the first in Korea to apply the dry winding hydrogen tank manufacturing technology that Lotte Chemical has researched and developed since 2017 to a mass production pilot. This investment in equipment aims to secure a market entry foundation in preparation for the full-scale hydrogen electric vehicle era.

By consolidating Lotte Chemical's hydrogen tank R&D and process technology capabilities, the latest automated manufacturing process equipment, completed purely with domestic technology, as well as inspection processes for pressure resistance, airtightness, and rupture, have been fully established. It is designed to mass-produce up to 15,000 units annually of 50ℓ-class medium-sized hydrogen tanks.

Since 2017, Lotte Chemical has participated in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's core industrial technology development project titled "Development of 700bar Hydrogen Storage Tank Manufacturing Technology for FCEVs Using High-Speed Filament Winding Method," initiating the development of hydrogen storage tanks.

Lotte Chemical Hydrogen Tank

The hydrogen tanks developed by Lotte Chemical apply the dry winding technology, developed domestically for the first time, to an integrated plastic liner, enabling mass production and weight reduction of hydrogen tanks through carbon fiber winding design capability and high-speed molding process development.

Hydrogen storage tanks used in hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles require safety and reliability under ultra-high pressure. Lotte Chemical's hydrogen tanks have passed the basic performance evaluations required for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and completed the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) R134 certification for high-pressure container product sales earlier this month to ensure safety and reliability.

Kim Gyo-hyun, Chief Representative, stated, "Hydrogen tank technology plays an important role in hydrogen storage and utilization as hydrogen mobility grows, bringing new opportunities to us standing at the starting point of an eco-friendly hydrogen economy. As a convergence of differentiated technology and proprietary core processes, we will provide safe and optimized solutions for various hydrogen storage tanks of our customers."

Chairman Moon Jae-do said, "The application of hydrogen tank technology will expand not only to automobiles but also to transportation sectors such as ships, railways, and aircraft, as well as related industries like space, aviation, and defense. We expect that Lotte Chemical's dry winding hydrogen tank mass production technology, which consolidates our capabilities and technological prowess, will play a significant role in popularizing the hydrogen economy."

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