Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction will transform plastic waste into gases by heating it up, and extract hydrogen from those gases, the company said Thursday.

Seeking to jointly develop the hydrogen extraction system, Doosan Heavy has partnered with RevoTech, a local plastic pyrolysis firm which possesses the technology involved in feeding plastic waste non-stop into heating equipment.

The initial goal is to develop within the year a hydrogen reformer that can produce 0.3 metric tons of hydrogen per day and install the equipment at RevoTech’s plastic waste processing facility in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, according to officials.

The next step, after conducting a feasibility study, will be to commercialize the technology in order to produce more than 3 tons of hydrogen per day.

“South Korea currently generates 8 million tons of plastic waste every year and 4 million tons are either buried, incinerated or turned into solid recovered fuel. The technology can be applied to these 4 million tons of plastic wastes,” said Song Yong-jin, vice president of strategic innovation division.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)