Bangkok Industrial Gas Co (BIG), Thailand's largest industrial gas maker, is setting aside 500 million baht to develop a second hydrogen plant to serve rising demand from the automotive and industrial sectors in the flagship Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).
The second hydrogen plant is being developed at Map Ta Phut in Rayong, one of the host provinces of the corridor. BIG has already held a ground-breaking ceremony for the project.
The 500-million-baht budget is part of BIG's 4-billion-baht allotment for 2018-20.
The second hydrogen plant is aimed at producing 12,000 tonnes of hydrogen a year, with commercial operations starting in 2019.
"This move will emphasise our role as the leading hydrogen producer and support further industrial growth, particularly in petrochemical and refinery sectors in the EEC," said Piyabut Charuphen, BIG's managing director. "This project is in line with the government's policy to promote hydrogen as an alternative energy, instead of fossil fuel for vehicles."
He said the hydrogen plant will be constructed with technology from the US. The production process of propylene oxide, a raw material that PTT Global Chemical Plc uses in producing its polyol products, will also be improved with technology from the US.
The hydrogen fuel, purified from a high production standard, is supplied not only to petrochemical and refinery sectors, but also as fuel in hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, which have passed through R&D conducted by major car assemblers in Europe, US and Japan.
Hydrogen power is seen as the fuel of the future that will not cause any pollution and environmental problems.
Mr Piyabut said the hydrogen production business has been growing rapidly in Thailand with demand rising 5-10% annually due to increasing consumption in the petrochemical and automotive sector.
The demand for industrial gas is also expected to rise rapidly as an eco-friendly fuel that can be developed as hydrogen energy storage, which has been developing across the world.