The Korea Energy Research Institute and Hyundai Steel have agreed to collaborate on technological development in the mid-to-long term to achieve carbon neutrality, including hydrogen generation, CCUS, and carbon-free combustion.
At the Korea Energy Research Institute in Daejeon on the 20th, Kim Jong-Nam, president of the Korea Institute of Energy Research, and Dong-il An, president of Hyundai Steel, signed a “carbon-neutral MOU for technological collaboration in CCUS, hydrogen generation, and energy efficiency improvement.” For carbon neutrality in the steel sector, comprehensive technical collaboration in the energy and environmental domains is being pushed.
Since 2016, the Korea Energy Research Institute and Hyundai Steel have been working together to build a low-carbon production system by boosting technology collaboration in the greenhouse gas and energy industries. A new carbon-neutral MOU has been formed in the energy and environment sector to aggressively respond to carbon neutrality, which has lately arisen as a significant problem in corporate sustainability management.
Hyundai Steel intends to use the Korea Energy Research Institute’s top energy-related technology to improve the performance of steelworks facilities and optimize operations, according to this commercial agreement. It is also predicted to develop swiftly technologies that can achieve carbon neutrality in the mid-to-long term, such as hydrogen generation, CCUS, and carbon-free combustion, which are the foundational technologies for green steel.
Hydrogen Energy Research Headquarters, Energy Efficiency Research Headquarters, and Climate Change Research Headquarters are all part of the Korea Institute of Energy Research. Its CCUS, hydrogen generation, and heat and energy facilities are all world-class. As a result, boosting energy efficiency, hydrogen generation, and ecosystem development, as well as implementing low-carbon company practices, are projected to have a significant synergistic impact in ensuring Hyundai Steel’s long-term success.
Hyundai Steel aims to create ‘blue hydrogen’ production technology, which doubles hydrogen output by modifying the components in the by-product gas itself, rather than the present commercial technology, which merely separates and purifies hydrogen from by-product gas. This collaboration is also expected to hasten the acquisition of technologies to manufacture huge amounts of hydrogen for use in hydrogen reduction iron and steel.
In addition, the Korea Energy Research Institute intends to aggressively evaluate different CCUS-related element technologies for application in the steelmaking process, such as CO2 capture technology and CO2-using product conversion technology. This MOU will also allow the Korea Energy Research Institute and Hyundai Steel to further enhance current energy efficiency-related technology.
“We will continue to engage with the Korea Energy Research Institute to considerably develop energy and environment-related demonstration technologies,” stated Dong-il Ahn, President, and CEO of Hyundai Steel.
