Sumitomo and LOTTE Chemical to collaborate on hydrogen

Sumitomo Corporation and Lotte Chemical Group signed an MoU in Korea for collaboration in the hydrogen and ammonia fields.

Hydrogen and ammonia are expected to be energy sources contributing to decarbonisation in many fields, including transportation and power generation, as they do not emit CO2 during combustion.

Japan and South Korea are expected to become large importers of hydrogen and ammonia as they accelerate their initiatives for mixed combustion and mono-fuel combustion of hydrogen and ammonia in the power generation sector, which is expected to create large-scale demand for hydrogen and ammonia in the future.

Sumitomo Corporation and Lotte Chemical will jointly look into a wide range of business development opportunities for collaboration in the fields of hydrogen and ammonia, including :

• joint investment in hydrogen and ammonia production projects in Australia, Chile, and other regions and the establishment of value chains for Japan and Korea
• Development of ammonia storage terminals in Japan and Korea
• The commercialisation of new hydrogen and ammonia-related technologies and their deployment in the Japanese and Korean markets
• Collaboration in the CCUS field.

As part of this collaboration, in August this year, Sumitomo Corporation, Lotte Chemical, and Syzygy Plasmonics, a US hydrogen technology startup with the world’s most advanced photocatalytic technology, agreed to conduct the world’s first joint demonstration test of hydrogen production by ammonia decomposition using photocatalyst in Korea.