Lotte Chemical, Air Liquide Korea form hydrogen joint venture in Korea

Lotte Air Liquide Enerhy logo

Lotte Chemical Corp. and Air Liquide Korea Tuesday announced they established a joint venture to scale up the hydrogen supply chain for mobility markets in Korea.

In May last year, the two entered a strategic alliance for the hydrogen supply chain deployment and signed a contract for the joint venture in April.

The venture company is called Lotte Air Liquide Enerhy, a word combining energy and hydrogen, to lead in the energy transformation in the local hydrogen energy market starting with mobility areas. Kim Somie, vice president of hydrogen energy of Air Liquide Korea, will serve as the first chief executive officer of the new company.

As its first project, the venture will build a large-scale high-pressure hydrogen delivery center on Lotte Chemical’s Daesan plant site. The center will use by-product hydrogen from Lotte Chemical facility with initial operation slated to start in the second half of 2024.

The center will have the largest hydrogen production capacity in Korea, capable of producing more than 5,500 tons annually, enough to fuel 4,400 passenger cars or 600 commercial buses per day.