H2 View understands Johnson Matthey will provide ammonia cracking technology and catalysts to convert clean ammonia into hydrogen to be used in power turbines in hydrogen-fuelled or hydrogen-LNG fuelled combined cycle power plants.

Doosan Enerbility has said, by 2027 it expects to complete the development of a 380MW 100% hydrogen gas turbine.

The new partnership comes in support of the South Korean Government’s plans to increase the share of clean hydrogen-based power generation from the current 0% to 2.1% by 2030, and 7.1% by 2036.

Read more: South Korea announces new hydrogen policies and goals

“This is a significant step and could lead to a number of industries introducing clean hydrogen-fuelled turbines in power plants around the world,” said Jane Toogood, Chief Executive of Catalyst Technologies at Johnson Matthey. “Whilst the technology we are developing for Doosan is specifically for the power industry, it could also decarbonise downstream industries through access to low-carbon power.”

The Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials found that using ammonia cracking technology to enable hydrogen-fuelled turbines could reduce carbon emissions by 10.4% when fired with 30% hydrogen, increasing to 21.4% if 50% hydrogen is present.

Hongook Park, CEO of Doosan Enerbility’s Power Services Business Group, commented, “Ammonia cracking, which is helping to lower the entry barrier to combined cycle hydrogen power generation, is a key technology that will contribute to carbon neutrality. This partnership signifies that the entire value chain for combined cycle hydrogen power generation will be built, resulting in hydrogen production through to hydrogen end-users.”