"Reducing Wildfires with Waste Wood and Extracting Hydrogen"…Regulations Eased in Gangwon-do

Government Holds 10th Regulatory Freedom Special Committee Meeting
Gangwon and Jeonnam Newly Designated as Regulatory Free Zones
"Special Exemption for Eco-Friendly Plastic Ship Manufacturing"

Minister Lee Young of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo are touring the Regulatory Free Zone Performance Exhibition at the Government Seoul Office Annex in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 11th.
[Photo by Ministry of SMEs and Startups]

Projects to extract hydrogen from abandoned waste wood and to manufacture small fishing boats using recyclable plastic will be conducted for two years in regulatory free zones in Gangwon and Jeonnam, respectively.

On the 11th, the government held the 10th Regulatory Free Zone Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) chaired by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo at the Government Complex Seoul and made this decision.

At the meeting, the Committee approved the designation of two new regulatory free zones in Gangwon and Jeonnam and the addition of demonstration projects to existing regulatory free zones in Busan and Jeonbuk. The designation period for the new zones is four years, and the demonstration period is from January 2024 to the end of December 2025.

First, Gangwon will establish the 'Unused Forest Biomass Clean Hydrogen Production and Utilization Zone.' This project involves demonstrating hydrogen production using abandoned waste wood and forest by-products as raw materials.

Current hydrogen-related laws stipulate that hydrogen extraction is only allowed from city gas, liquefied petroleum gas, hydrocarbons, and alcohols. Accordingly, the Committee granted special exemptions to allow the production of hydrogen extraction equipment from synthesis gas and to permit pre-use inspections of the manufactured equipment.

Baek Un-man, head of the Regulatory Innovation Planning Division at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, explained in a pre-briefing, "We will extract high-purity hydrogen stably and economically by utilizing the Cheoram Power Plant operating in Taebaek City." He added, "Using abandoned forest wood also helps prevent large-scale forest fires."

In Jeonnam, the 'Eco-friendly HDPE Small Fishing Boat Zone' will be established. This project will build small fishing boats under 10 tons using HDPE material and conduct demonstrations at sea. HDPE stands for high-density thermoplastic plastic, which can be recycled through thermal processing.

Under the current Fishing Vessel Act, only steel, FRP, wooden, and aluminum vessels are regulated. Although 96% of domestic fishing boats are made of FRP, they have the disadvantage of being non-recyclable. As aging vessels increase, environmental issues have emerged, highlighting the need to introduce small fishing boats made of HDPE material.

Baek stated, "We expect to expand the distribution of eco-friendly vessels by linking with Jeonnam's infrastructure, which accounts for 61% of national HDPE production and 43% of registered fishing boats under 10 tons."

Status of Regulatory Free Zones Designated Nationwide. Through the Special Zone Committee on this day, 34 regulatory free zones are operated in 14 non-metropolitan areas nationwide.
[Image=Ministry of SMEs and Startups]

Additionally, the Committee added a demonstration project for the 'Blockchain-based Simplified Claims for Actual Expense Insurance' service to the Busan Regulatory Free Zone. This service allows for simplified claims of actual expense insurance without the need to issue paper medical certificates and send them to insurance companies.

To simplify actual expense insurance claims, a special exemption was granted allowing corporations to request medical records online on behalf of patients, and patients can provide consent once to allow the proxy to access their medical records for a certain period. Busan National University Hospital, which can connect with over 100 hospitals and clinics, participates as a zone project operator.

In the Jeonbuk Carbon Convergence Zone designated in 2020, a demonstration project will be conducted to manufacture detachable 70MPa hydrogen container modules and hydrogen fuel cells for special-purpose vehicles such as large ladder trucks.

Carbon fiber must be used in hydrogen containers to withstand high-pressure hydrogen. However, domestic carbon fiber's market share remains in the single digits due to competition from foreign products such as those from Japan. Additionally, current laws limit the maximum charging pressure of composite material containers to 35MPa, and hydrogen stations do not allow individual hydrogen container charging except for hydrogen vehicles.

Accordingly, special exemptions were granted to allow the manufacture of composite material containers with a maximum charging pressure of 70MPa and charging at hydrogen stations, as well as the production of hydrogen fuel cells for special-purpose vehicles.

Baek predicted, "This will lead the eco-friendly transition of special-purpose vehicles by linking with the only special-purpose vehicle industry cluster in Korea, established in Jeonbuk."

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