Yulho Enters Green Hydrogen Business

Yulho announced on September 12 that it held an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on the 11th and newly appointed Lee Sangcheon, CEO of SCL Energy, as a director. In addition, the company approved agenda items to add business objectives related to hydrogen production and data centers.

After the shareholders' meeting, Yulho's board of directors appointed Lee as the new co-CEO. The newly appointed CEO, Lee Sangcheon, is an expert in hydrogen production through water electrolysis. Yulho has entered the green hydrogen production and related businesses, which are part of the renewable energy sector, to foster new growth engines.

Lee, the new CEO, holds a doctorate from the University of Illinois in the United States and received the Melville Award in 2013. Based on his experience at a U.S. national laboratory, he has secured patented technology for green hydrogen production using water absorption resonance wavelength electrolysis, which enables the perfect application of RE100 standards.

Currently known water electrolysis methods require approximately 50 to 55 kW of electricity to produce 1 kg of hydrogen. When using 1 kg of produced hydrogen in a fuel cell, about 20 kW of electricity can be generated. In current electrolysis methods, it is important to improve economic feasibility by reducing the amount of electricity required for hydrogen production.

The technology developed by the new CEO minimizes electricity consumption for producing 1 kg of green hydrogen by utilizing electron beam absorption resonance. By maximizing the ionization of H+ and OH- in water, the technology reduces the actual required power to an extremely low level. The core of this new technology is to enhance the economic feasibility of green hydrogen.

At the laboratory scale, the company succeeded in reducing the power required to produce 1 kg of green hydrogen to below 10 kW. The related patent has also been registered. Active industry-academic research is underway with major universities. Alongside small prototypes capable of producing 1 to 10 kg of green hydrogen, mid- to large-sized container-type systems capable of producing 200 to 300 kg of green hydrogen are currently being designed and manufactured, and have already been introduced as export models.

The technical features of Lee's water electrolysis technology include: ▲ producing green hydrogen directly from water ▲ overwhelming efficiency and superior economic feasibility compared to existing hydrogen production methods ▲ scalability from large-scale to small-scale production facilities.

Lee's method also uses a specially developed coating material instead of platinum as a catalyst. This secures technological independence and reduces system manufacturing costs.

Yulho stated that its technology will become a K-Green Hydrogen technology with clear competitiveness and economic feasibility compared to other hydrogen production methods. K-Green Hydrogen is a registered trademark owned exclusively by Dr. Lee Sangcheon.

According to the first "Global Hydrogen Compass," jointly published by the Hydrogen Council, which includes 140 companies from 20 countries, and McKinsey & Company, the scale of investment commitments in the clean hydrogen sector has increased by more than 50% annually on average since 2020 compared to the previous year.

The technology owned by the new CEO can be applied not only to large-scale production facilities but also to small-scale facilities. In countries with insufficient power transmission and distribution infrastructure, modular production facilities can be implemented where needed. Green hydrogen can be produced at a lower cost than any other energy source and can serve as a clean energy source that meets RE100 standards.

A company official stated, "We expect that entering the high-growth green hydrogen production and related businesses will enhance corporate value and drive strong performance growth." The official added, "We are currently proceeding with business announcements with partners that the new CEO had previously been in discussions with, and are also preparing for a corporate briefing session."

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