Three major South Korean shipbuilders, two steel companies and the Korea Register (KR) have joined forces to develop the liquid cargo tank, a key piece of equipment for liquid hydrogen (LH2) carriers.
HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE), the intermediate holding company for HD Hyundai Group’s shipbuilding business, Samsung Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean, together with POSCO, Hyundai Steel and KR, announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a joint study for “Joint Research on Standardization of Material Testing for LH2 Carriers”.
It is understood that hydrogen is becoming a key next-generation environmentally friendly fuel that must be cooled to -253 degrees Celsius and compressed to 1/800th of its volume in order to be transported over long distances. Therefore, the design and manufacture of liquid cargo tanks that can safely store LH2 at ultra-low temperatures is considered to be the core technology for LH2 carriers.
Under the MoU, the partners have agreed to carry out joint research on the need to study and validate various material properties to cope with external shocks, as the impact toughness (impact resistance) of materials for LH2 carriers decreases at low temperatures compared to room temperature. Meanwhile, due to the relatively high level of technical difficulty, the industry has yet to develop an international standard related to LH2 cargo tanks, making competition in this technology sector extremely fierce among global shipbuilders.
Through this agreement, the partners plan to strengthen their technological competitiveness in the design and construction of cargo tanks carriers. Specifically, the parties will share the results of experiments on the performance of materials in LH2 environments and jointly use the data to promote international standardization in the design and manufacture of liquid hydrogen cargo tanks.
The partners anticipate that the collaboration is expected to lay the technological foundation for Korea to lead the market for next-generation LH2 carriers. Unlike the liquid cargo tanks of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, which rely on overseas technology, the development of liquid hydrogen cargo tanks is of great significance, and the project aims to develop purely Korean technology and lead international standards.
