On March 09, 2020-KEPCO announced that it is first in Korea to demonstrate the ability to store 20N㎥ of hydrogen per hour using ‘hydrogen storage liquid technology’ (LOHC).Â
LOHC (Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carries) technology is a state-of-the-art technology that KEPCO started in 2017. But until now, research on the new technology has remained at the basic level of 1Nm3, which refers to the volume of gas at 0 degrees Celsius and an atmospheric pressure of 1. But KEPCO succeeded in verifying the technology that can store 20Nm3 hydrogen per hour.
KEPCO also said that it has received a certificate from Korea Gas Safety Corp. on a hydrogen storage facility based on LOHC technology.
Currently, the hydrogen storage technology that is used in Korea has a limitation in that a lot of costs and risks exist because hydrogen must be compressed and stored at a pressure of 200 times higher than atmospheric pressure and transported to a tank lorry.
The newly developed LOHC technology allows for safe storage and transportation by storing hydrogen in a liquid compound and lower transportation costs.
When hydrogen reacts with DBT (Dibenzyltoluene), a hydrogen storage liquid, and a catalyst under certain conditions (temperature of 50 ~ 180 ℃, atmospheric pressure 50 times), it is absorbed and stored in liquid compound. When reacted with the catalyst at about three times conditions, hydrogen is separated from the stored liquid, and the separated hydrogen storage liquid is reusable.
Assuming that approximately 5 kg of hydrogen can be charged per hydrogen-electric car, 100 liters of LOHC can charge one hydrogen car and there is no leakage even if stored for more than one year.
KEPCO said that LOHC has much higher storage capacity, stability, and economic efficiency than existing compression storage methods.
KEPCO said that KEPCO will do its best to develop various energy new technologies to support the government’s eco-friendly policy.
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