Steel Industry News
Ministry to research low-carbon steelmaking
Thursday, 01, April 2010
The government intends to develop an eco-friendly steel manufacturing method that discharges water instead of carbon dioxide, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said yesterday.“Now, European countries and Japan are doing research on using hydrogen to produce steel,” said Choi Gwang-jun, deputy director of steel and chemicals at the ministry. “Korea is the fifth biggest producer of steel and we need to start similar research to catch up to other countries.”
Europe in 2004 created a consortium of 48 companies from 15 countries in a project code-named “Ulcos,” which stood for ultra-low CO2 steelmaking, while Japan launched the “Course 50” project in 2007.The steel industry is a major producer of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.The ministry said it intends to find ways to mass-produce hydrogen economically at first and then develop a steel manufacturing process that combines iron ores and hydrogen.
