South Korea will push to develop hydrogen-based steelmaking technology by 2030 to support the local steel industry’s efforts to bolster its global competitiveness and achieve carbon neutrality, the industry ministry said on Thursday.
With the recent completion of a feasibility study, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to invest a combined won 814.6bn (USD 600M) over the next five years to develop a demonstration technology for hydrogen-based steelmaking in cooperation with the private sector, according to ministry officials, reports Yonhap news agency.
Major economies have been working to secure this promising technology, which uses hydrogen gas instead of coal to smelt iron ore, as it could help steelmakers significantly reduce carbon emissions by more than 95% compared to traditional methods.
Under the plan, the country will build a facility capable of producing 300,000 tons of hydrogen reduced steel and molten iron, and apply the hydrogen-based steelmaking technology on electric arc furnaces owned by small and medium sized companies.
The project plans to leverage an alternative steelmaking method called FINEX, which is one of the national strategic technologies, to develop hydrogen-based steelmaking technology.
FINEX is a more eco-friendly steelmaking process that can replace the conventional blast furnace method by directly using iron ore fines and non-coking coal to produce molten metal.