Hyundai E&C leads Korea project to develop 29b-won liquid hydrogen tanks

Hyundai Engineering & Construction announced on the 1st that it has been chosen to participate in a government-supported initiative titled “Technology Development for Liquid Hydrogen Storage Tanks and Loading/Unloading Systems.” The program is being led by the Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement (KAIA) under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. As part of this effort, the company will begin developing a large-scale liquid hydrogen storage tank. Liquid hydrogen is produced by cooling gaseous hydrogen to approximately −253°C, meaning storage systems must incorporate highly advanced insulation and engineering solutions to maintain such extremely low temperatures.

The project is designed to establish essential end-to-end technologies—covering storage, transfer, and unloading—needed for constructing liquid hydrogen import terminals as the hydrogen economy expands. These technologies will be validated through demonstration. A key milestone of the initiative is the development of Korea’s first flat-bottom liquid hydrogen storage tank, which is expected to provide the technical foundation for scaling up to storage systems with capacities of around 50,000 cubic meters. This type of tank features a cylindrical structure with a flat base and is engineered with enhanced insulation and structural integrity to safely store large volumes of liquid hydrogen at atmospheric or low pressure.

The total government investment in the project amounts to roughly 29 billion won, with a timeline of 45 months running from now until December 2029. Hyundai Engineering & Construction will collaborate with 14 partners from industry, academia, and research institutions—including Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS), Korea Gas Technology Corporation (KOGAS-Tech), and Korea Gas Safety Corporation (KGS)—to carry out the design, construction, and demonstration phases.

As part of its technical development efforts, the company will work on improving storage tank performance by building and standardizing databases of metal material properties, advancing structural and high-efficiency insulation design technologies, and securing capabilities in structural, fluid flow, and heat transfer analysis. It will also establish design standards. At the same time, Hyundai E&C plans to enhance safety and minimize boil-off gas losses through the construction and testing of a 200 cubic meter demonstration storage tank.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport intends to use the outcomes of this national project to support scale-up design work and apply the technologies to the construction of liquid hydrogen terminals and the commercialization of storage infrastructure.