Hanwha Cimarron’s hydrogen tank chosen for Shell’s California network

Hanwha Cimarron, a United States-based developer of gas storage solutions, will offer Shell, a worldwide energy and petrochemical company, with its “Neptune” carbon fiber reinforced polymer tank for the creation of a hydrogen charging station network in California.

California, the hub of the hydrogen sector in the United States, intends to raise the number of hydrogen charging stations to 1,000 by 2030. In Alabama, Hanwha Cimarron is constructing a high-pressure tank facility at a cost of around $51 million. In the second half of 2022, the plant will be able to produce approximately 4,000 high-pressure tanks yearly.

In 2021, Hanwha Solutions, a significant unit of South Korea’s Hanwha Group, purchased Cimarron Composites, a NASA-initiated enterprise, and renamed it Hanwha Cimarron. Hanwha Cimarron manufactures Neptune, which is capable of delivering 1,200 kg of hydrogen gas in a conventional 40-foot container.

“We are strengthening hydrogen tank operations in Germany and other European countries to secure new customers,” Ryu Doo-hyung, head of Hanwha Solutions’ advanced materials division, said in a statement on June 21. “With continuous investment, we will become the world’s No. 1 hydrogen tank company by 2030.”

The organization is cultivating green hydrogen as one of its future growth engines. Blue hydrogen is created from natural gas using carbon capture technology, while green hydrogen is produced from water using renewable energy.

Hydrogen is extremely combustible when combined with minute quantities of air. Hydrogen must be cooled to a temperature of minus 253 degrees Celsius and then stored in cryogenic containers in order to be liquefied. Compared to compressed gas, liquefied hydrogen has a higher energy density, allowing for more energy to be contained in a given volume for transport.

Hanwha Solutions believes that Cimarron’s technology can be utilized in aerospace, ships, and urban air mobility (UAM), an ecosystem that includes personal air vehicles and infrastructure. Hanwha is a prominent member of UAM Team Korea, a public-private advisory group established in June to market drone taxis by 2025.