Hyundai Motor Company has announced it will build a hydrogen production facility at a public sewage treatment plant in the Korean city of Cheongju, producing clean H2 from biogas obtained from on-site organic waste.

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The car manufacturer says the plant will produce 500kg of clean hydrogen per day “by 2024”, with plans to double the daily production to one tonne by 2027.

“In addition, a hydrogen filling station will be installed nearby to supply clean hydrogen at a reasonable price to local residents,” Hyundai said in a press release, adding that this will be cheaper than locally produced by-product hydrogen.

The hydrogen-from-sewage facility will be built in conjunction with the non-profit Institute for Advanced Engineering after the project was selected in a contest organised by the Ministry of Environment.

Biogas is produced inside huge tanks known as anaerobic digesters, where microorganisms break down organic waste in the absence of oxygen.