Turning Waste Into Eco-Friendly Energy: Hydrogen Station Opens in Cheongju

[Anchor]

A facility that produces hydrogen from biogas generated during the sewage treatment process and provides charging services for hydrogen vehicles has opened in Cheongju. It is a resource circulation model that repurposes discarded waste into eco-friendly fuel. Hyundai Motor Group will directly operate the facility for the next 20 years, allowing hydrogen to be supplied at a lower price than existing rates.

CJB reporter Park Eon has the story.

[Reporter]

This is the Cheongju Public Sewage Treatment Plant.

Domestic sewage from households undergoes various purification processes here before being discharged back into rivers.

During this process, sewage sludge is generated, which has traditionally been incinerated or disposed of as waste.

However, it is now possible to convert this sewage sludge into hydrogen energy.

The facility behind me produces actual hydrogen using biogas derived from the sewage treatment process.

Discarded waste is being reborn as eco-friendly energy.

Biogas generated from sewage sludge passes through storage tanks, purification equipment, hydrogen extraction units, and compressors to produce eco-friendly hydrogen.

Cheongju City held a completion ceremony and has begun full-scale operations.

A total of 16 billion won was invested, including 9.2 billion won in government funding and 6.8 billion won in private investment.

The facility has the capacity to produce up to 500kg of hydrogen per day, which is enough to fuel approximately 100 hydrogen passenger cars or 30 buses.

Hyundai Motor Group, the project developer, will be in charge of operating the facility.

The company plans to operate the site for the next 20 years before transferring the operational rights to Cheongju City.

This is the first instance in the country of a resource-circulating hydrogen production model, and the facility is named HTWO ENERGY Cheongju.

[Interview: Seo Gang-hyun, President of Hyundai Motor Group] "We will expand this successful model started in Cheongju into a resource-circulating hydrogen ecosystem tailored to various conditions in domestic and international regions, and further extend it to the global market."

A hydrogen charging station has also been established on-site.

The retail price of hydrogen is 9,200 won per kilogram, which is 700 won cheaper than other stations.

With this addition, the number of hydrogen charging stations in the Cheongju area has increased from six to seven.

[Interview: Lee Beom-seok, Mayor of Cheongju] "This is significant in that it will help revitalize the hydrogen economy in Cheongju and allow citizens who use hydrogen vehicles to utilize hydrogen energy more conveniently."

As biogas that was once discarded is now being utilized as a raw material for hydrogen production, it is becoming a new benchmark for the transition to eco-friendly energy.

(Video by Song Shin-ui, CJB)

Reported by Park Eon, CJB
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.