ABS, HHI, KSOE to work together on green hydrogen production, CCS

US classification society ABS, South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and its parent company Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering (KSOE) have unveiled two joint development projects (JDPs) to develop decarbonization technologies to support global sustainability ambitions.

The JDPs address green hydrogen production and offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS), two technologies that will be critical to achieving net-zero.

As explained, the trio will jointly develop technical guidance for green hydrogen production from offshore platforms as a key first step to the design and construction of a facility by 2025.

The guidance will facilitate the development of production facilities providing a vital contribution to the growth of a global green hydrogen economy. The project will utilize the electrolysis of seawater to generate green hydrogen.

Later stages potentially include ABS approval in principle (AIP) and generic design approval, supporting engineering development right through to project construction.

A second offshore carbon capture JDP is focused on securing an AIP for HHI and KSOE’s design for a CO2 injection platform for offshore storage. The platform is designed to be able to store 400,000 tons of captured and liquefied CO2 every year from 2025.

The announcement is timed to coincide with the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, in Glasgow, where the potential of green hydrogen to support global sustainability ambitions and the capture, utilization and sequestration of carbon will be central to the discussion.

Green hydrogen is a fuel created using entirely renewable energy sources. Currently, only one percent of hydrogen fuel is produced this way.

“We are pleased to leverage our expertise in the green hydrogen and CCS platform pathway for decarbonization offshore. These projects are part of our continuous endeavors and commitment to a sustainable future that is aligned with HHI Group’s ESG vision,” Won Ho JOO, HHI Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, said.

“It is a quite meaningful technological milestone in obtaining the JDPs for these innovative green hydrogen and CCS platforms in offshore. KSOE believes our self-developed model will contribute to the global decarbonization effort. Also, we are preparing the development of the whole value chains of both CO2 and green hydrogen,” Sung Joon KIM, CTO of KSOE, added.

“Securing the required quantities of zero-carbon fuels to power our industry’s transition will require significant scaling up of the global renewable energy sources. Green hydrogen will certainly have a critical role to play but we are starting from a very low base and increasing production is an urgent global priority,” Christopher J. Wiernicki, ABS Chairman, President and CEO, commented.

“Meanwhile, carbon capture is a potential game-changer, and ABS is working to accelerate the development of both the technology and the vessels required to make it viable.”

Earlier this year, ABS, KSOE and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, part of HMD, also joined forces with the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) Maritime Administrator to develop liquefied CO2 carrier designs.

HMD has been developing a cargo containment system and KSOE practical solutions for the management of liquid CO₂ cargo onboard by providing a CO₂ cargo handling system. ABS and RMI have been evaluating designs for approval and verification.