Hanwha General Chemical said Monday that it had become the first South Korean company to own mixed hydrogen combustion technologies.

Mixed hydrogen combustion burns natural gas together with hydrogen to generate electricity. This method of generating electricity can cut carbon emissions by more than 30 percent, according to Hanwha Group’s chemicals unit, and can significantly reduce nitrogen oxide emissions, which cause fine dust issues.

“Hanwha General Chemical acquired a 100 percent stake each in Power Systems Mfg of the US and Ansaldo Thomassen B.V. of Netherlands. The two companies are subsidiaries of global gas turbine firm Ansaldo Energia and have top-notch mixed hydrogen combustion technologies and gas turbine life span and performance enhancement technologies,” a Hanwha official said.

Hanwha General Chemical signed the deals Friday and aims to complete the acquisition process by June.

Hydrogen combustion technology is still under development in Korea. Power Systems and Ansaldo Thomassen have already commercialized the technology.

“Thanks to the acquisition, we have secured hydrogen combustion technologies, which can reduce carbon and nitrogen oxide emissions significantly, as well as gas turbine technologies (for which) we have depended on foreign imports,” Hanwha General Chemical CEO Park Heung-gweon said.

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