Hyundai Steel and the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) have signed a memorandum of understanding in an aim to cooperate on energy and environmental technologies and drive forward the steel industry’s transition to carbon neutrality.
According to KIER, Ahn Dong-il, the CEO of Hyundai Steel, and Kim Jong-nam, the President of KIER, attended the signing ceremony, which took place at the South Korean institute in Daejeon on May 20.
Hyundai Steel and KIER will partner on the development of carbon capture, utilization and storage technology, as well as technologies that advance energy efficiency and the production of hydrogen.
Hyundai Steel said it will use KIER’s energy technologies to boost its factory performance and optimize operations. The steelmaker also said the partnership will allow for the progress of technologies such as combustion with zero CO2 emissions.
Hyundai Steel said it hopes the collaboration will advance the production technology for blue hydrogen, or doubling the production of hydrogen from byproduct gasses.
Current technology only separates and dilutes H2 from byproduct gasses, according to Hyundai Steel.
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“As carbon neutrality is the most important factor for the company’s sustainable growth, we will take the lead in building a low-carbon environment in the steel industry through varied technological cooperation and active investment,” Ahn said.
So far, the steelmaker has spent over $393 million, or 500 billion won, to construct factories that produce steel in an eco-friendly way.
Hyundai Steel plans to create a coke dry quenching system and equip its Dangjin steel plant with additional selective catalytic reduction reactors in the next couple of years.
The aim is to decrease CO2 emissions by 500,000 metric tons annually and cut air pollutants by more than 60%.
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