Hyosung Heavy Industries, the machinery maker arm of South Korea’s textiles and chemicals conglomerate Hyosung Group, will build the world’s single-largest liquid hydrogen facility in Ulsan.

The project, carried out together with global chemical company Linde, comes in line with the country’s policy road map to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

“Hyosung Heavy and Linde Group have signed an investment agreement on creating joint ventures in order to push ahead with the liquid hydrogen business,” the Korean group said Friday in a release.

The two joint ventures will comprise Hyosung Hydrogen and Linde Hydrogen, to respectively take charge of liquid hydrogen sales and production.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding in April last year agreeing to establish a hydrogen value chain.

Starting as early as within this month, Linde Hydrogen will set to constructing a manufacturing plant in Ulsan on an industrial site owned by Hyosung Group, aiming for completion by 2023. The capacity of the forthcoming facility is anticipated at 13,000 tons per year -- enough for about 100,000 vehicles per year.

In the meantime, Hyosung Hydrogen will be building the infrastructure to provide hydrogen charging at some 120 stations across the nation, officials said.

Liquefied at minus 253 degrees Celsius, hydrogen takes up only one-800th of the space compared to its gaseous form, increasing convenience for storage and transportation.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)