CST composites targets green hydrogen supply chain

 After 26 years in business, Australia’s CST Composites is positioning itself to be a leading player in the global green hydrogen supply chain through a joint venture with US-based hydrogen storage tank manufacturer Optimum Composite Technologies.

The joint venture will see CST Composites expand its core capabilities to support the growth of Optimum’s business in designing and producing Composite Pressure Vessels (CPVs), which are used to store hydrogen and Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) and have many other applications.

CST has two manufacturing facilities in Australia and the growth plans include establishing Australia’s first hydrogen vessel manufacturing facility, which will service emerging and growing demand from the defence (e.g. VTOL vehicles), space (e.g. rockets), transport and energy sectors.

This manufacturing facility will help advance Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy, which highlights the need to develop the country’s supply chain infrastructure, including hydrogen storage tanks. High-pressure storage tanks at low cost will be a crucially important part of transport, building backups and many other aspects of hydrogen adoption.

The joint venture will complement both companies’ manufacturing abilities. CST Composites will have access to Optimum’s technical expertise and Intellectual Property (IP) in carbon fibre pressure vessels. CST Composites will also gain greater access to US markets for its high quality, filament-wound composite tubing by leveraging Optimum’s US facilities, customer base and supply chain.

CST Composites managing director, Clive Watts, said “High-pressure gas storage vessels is one of the biggest and fastest-growing markets globally for advanced composites, particularly for filament-wound carbon fibre composites”.

Recent significant corporate developments include South Korean Hanwha Solutions’ acquisition of US hydrogen storage tank manufacturer Cimarron Composites and its plans to invest US$100 million to expand the business.

The Australian Government is investing $1.4 billion to position Australia as a major hydrogen player by 2030. Mr Watts said “we will be applying for the grants and financial support available to advance our projects, which focus on the innovative design and development of hydrogen and CPV products. We are planning to make a significant investment to grow our new joint venture”.

CST Composites is a leader in filament winding technology and 90 per cent of its products are exported to Europe, the US, China and Asia. All of its profiles and tubing are currently manufactured at its high-tech facilities in Sydney. The company was a recent recipient of funding under Round 2 of the Australian Government’s Manufacturing Modernisation Fund.

Source:CST COMPOSITES