KRISO secures ABS’ approval for its offshore hydrogen and ammonia production platform

The Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering (KRISO) has received approval in principle (AiP) from classification society ABS for its design of an offshore hydrogen and ammonia production platform.

KRISO’s design entails the production of green hydrogen using electricity generated by a wind farm. It consists of a desalination system that desalinates seawater and turns it into clean water, an electrolysis system that produces hydrogen by electrolyzing water, a compression system that pressurizes the produced hydrogen, a nitrogen generation system that separates nitrogen from the air, and an ammonia synthesis system that produces ammonia by reaction of hydrogen.

The approval granted by ABS focused on the safety and feasibility of the concept.

“Hydrogen is the golden molecule and will continue to grow as the key component in the worldwide endeavor to build a sustainable energy landscape. Production of hydrogen, particularly green hydrogen derived from renewable sources, is critical to the realization of a worldwide hydrogen economy. With its huge network and experience, the shipping industry is primed to be a cornerstone in this initiative,” said Panos Koutsourakis, ABS Vice President, Global Sustainability.

Keyyong Hong, President of KRISO, stated: “The hydrogen and ammonia production platform developed by KRISO can produce hydrogen and ammonia without carbon emissions using marine renewable energy. In the future, KRISO will continue to develop sustainable marine energy and eco-friendly ship technologies in order to achieve net zero in the ocean.”

The Yongsoo wave energy pilot plant, installed in KRISO’s wave energy test site offshore Jeju Island in South Korea, is also being prepared to produce green hydrogen.

The 500kW fixed OWC wave energy device features two impulse turbine generator units with a diameter of 1.8 meters and it has been operated to evaluate the performance of the wave power generation system, demonstrate the optimal operation control logic, and verify the digital twin technology.

From next year, developers plan to start producing green hydrogen offshore using marine energy, it was stated in the report from International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Ocean Energy Systems (OES), noting that the basic design of the hydrogen production system has been completed, with manufacturing and onshore performance testing to be completed this year.

The world’s first offshore hydrogen production demonstrator was launched in September 2022 in Saint-Nazaire, France. The platform, dubbed Sealhyfe, began producing its first kilograms of offshore hydrogen on June 20, 2023. It is capable of producing up to 400 kilograms of hydrogen per day.