POSCO '7.88 Million Ton Carbon Emission Reduction'... Depends on 'EAF·HBI'

'Carbon Emission Zero' Realization
20 Trillion Investment in Facility R&D

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] POSCO, the domestic company emitting the most carbon, is concretizing its carbon neutrality roadmap. The key keywords are ‘Electric Arc Furnace (EAF)’ and ‘Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI),’ which are the main players determining whether carbon emissions will be reduced to zero by 2050. POSCO is strengthening strategic cooperation with overseas companies for large-scale research and development (R&D) and facility investments amounting to 20 trillion won.

According to the industry on the 6th, POSCO plans to replace the existing blast furnace with electric furnaces and the hydrogen reduction steelmaking process called ‘HyREX’ by 2050. According to the carbon neutrality roadmap recently disclosed by POSCO, the transition to HyREX facilities will begin in 2033, and by 2050, all production facilities will be replaced with electric furnaces and HyREX.

HyREX is a process that replaces the carbon-based reducing agents such as coal or natural gas used in the past during the reduction process that removes oxygen from iron ore with hydrogen. Compared to the shaft reduction furnaces introduced by overseas steelmakers, it allows the use of iron ore pellets as they are, making raw material procurement easier and is evaluated to be superior in terms of economic feasibility.

POSCO plans to build a pilot facility with an annual capacity of 1 million tons at the Pohang Steelworks by 2028 to verify the commercialization potential of HyREX technology. The method involves producing direct reduced iron (DRI) through HyREX and then charging it into electric furnaces to produce molten iron. By 2027, two electric furnaces will be newly established domestically, one each in Gwangyang and Pohang.

Not only can the existing steelmaking facilities be utilized, but high value-added premium steel production is also possible; however, the challenge lies in securing hydrogen. Since the hydrogen supply infrastructure is not yet established domestically, cost competitiveness is inevitably low.

POSCO is also focusing on electric arc furnaces that will replace existing electric furnaces. Although the method uses DRI produced by HyREX, EAFs not only melt molten iron but also perform refining operations that reduce carbon content and remove impurities in the molten iron, resulting in higher cost competitiveness. POSCO has also started research to improve electric arc furnaces to produce premium steel.

Additionally, the company expects to reduce carbon emissions by utilizing hot briquetted iron. Hot briquetted iron is a processed product shaped like a clam shell made by molding reduced iron, which has had oxygen removed from iron ore, and is attracting attention as a low-carbon raw material that can replace direct reduced iron.

Compared to the existing blast furnace method, it can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by one-quarter. Using relatively inexpensive iron scrap and hot briquetted iron instead of direct reduced iron used in electric arc furnaces to produce molten iron also offers excellent cost competitiveness.

POSCO plans to expand overseas production facilities to produce hot briquetted iron. Following Hancock in Australia in March, last month it established a strategic cooperation system with Vale in Brazil to promote hot briquetted iron production. The aim is to secure low-carbon raw materials stably by partnering with global mineral companies.

POSCO Group (POSCO Holdings) aims to successfully implement the carbon neutrality roadmap and achieve ‘net zero (carbon neutrality)’ by 2050. POSCO recorded an average carbon emission of 7.88 million tons over three years from 2017 to 2019 and set phased goals to reduce emissions by 10% by 2030 and 50% by 2040.

A POSCO official said, "We are considering economic feasibility by maximizing the use of existing facilities," adding, "In the short term, we will promote energy efficiency improvement and substitution with low-carbon raw materials, and in the medium term, we will introduce electric furnaces and technologies with high feasibility such as carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS)."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.