The Ministry of Environment has selected Yeongcheon City (public) and Eco Bio Holdings (private) as '2024 Biogas-based Hydrogen Production Business Operators' and will support the total project cost of KRW 26 billion (KRW 13 billion each) over two years with 70% in the public sector and 50% in the private sector as national funds.

The Ministry of Environment and the Korea Environment Corporation announced on the 4th that they signed business agreements with Yeongcheon City and Eco Bio Holdings to expand hydrogen production using biogas.

This business agreement was prepared to clarify the authority and responsibility of the project for installing and operating a biogas-based transportation hydrogen production facility and to pledge cooperation among the Ministry of Environment, Korea Environment Corporation, Yeongcheon City, and Ecobio Holdings.

The 'Biogas-based Hydrogen Production Project' produces hydrogen for transportation by utilizing biogas, a renewable energy source under the Ministry of Environment, to stabilize the supply of hydrogen for hydrogen vehicles and increase local self-sufficient hydrogen production.

This business is to produce (upgrade*) methane (methane) with a purity of 95% or higher based on biogas produced when processing (decomposing by microorganisms) livestock waste, food waste, etc., and then convert it back into hydrogen (reforming**).

* After removing 40% of carbon dioxide in biogas, methane purity is improved to over 95%
** Converting methane to hydrogen (methane CH4 + water vapor 2H2O → hydrogen 4H2 + CO2)

Public sector in 2024 Yeongcheon City, which was selected as a biogas-based hydrogen production business operator, plans to produce 500 kg of hydrogen per day (enables charging about 100 hydrogen passenger cars per day) from the 4,000 Nm3 of biogas generated per day at the Yeongcheon City Integrated Biogasification Facility.

EcoBio Holdings, which was selected as a private sector operator, also produces hydrogen on the same scale as Yeongcheon City using biogas generated from sewage at the Southwest Water Recycling Center in Seoul.

These projects are being promoted with the goal of starting facility design this year, completing the facilities by 2025, and producing hydrogen starting in 2026.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment selected Boryeong City and Hyundai Motors as biogas-based hydrogen production operators for the first time last year and is supporting the facility installation costs.

Boryeong City, which was selected in the public sector, plans to produce 500 kg of hydrogen per day at a total project cost of KRW 12 billion (70% of the national budget) over two years from 2023 to 2024, while Hyundai Motors in the private sector plans to produce 500 kg of hydrogen per day at a total project cost of KRW 10 billion (50% of the national budget) during the same period.

These production facilities are expected to produce 500 kilograms of hydrogen per day starting next year.

Jeong Seon-hwa, the Ministry of Environment’s Air Quality Policy Officer, said, “In order to achieve carbon neutrality, we plan to expand the production and supply of hydrogen for transportation using biogas,” and “The biogas-based hydrogen production project for transportation will produce various effects, such as reducing greenhouse gases, establishing a local self-sufficient hydrogen car ecosystem, and recycling resources through diversification of biogas utilization.”