POSCO announced on Oct. 19 that it has developed a new steel material for hydrogen transportation. The new material will be used to produce steel pipes to be supplied to Ansan City, Gyeonggi Province, the first pilot hydrogen city in Korea.

Until now, domestic hydrogen pipes have been produced with imported seamless steel pipes with a diameter of less than six inches. But domestic pilot hydrogen cities use eight-inch diameter pipes due to a large volume of hydrogen they use.

In general, welded steel pipes are used in such a case, but the weld zone has a safety assurance problem. To address this problem, POSCO decided to develop a new steel material to ensure that the weld zone withstands ruptures or corrosion caused by hydrogen.

The new steel material has the world’s highest level of safety. Its weld zone can withstand shocks even at minus 45 degrees Celsius. Hustil, a Korean pipe maker, will produce steel pipes using POSCO’s new steel material.