POSCO completes Korea's largest electric arc furnace to cut carbon emissions
Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, fifth from left, shakes hand with POSCO Group Chariman Chang In-wha, fifth from right, during a plant completion ceremony in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, Wednesday. Yonhap
Korean steelmaker POSCO said Wednesday it has completed construction of an electric arc furnace (EAF) on the nation's southern coast as part of efforts to advance its lower-carbon steelmaking.
The nation's largest EAF, with an annual production capacity of 2.5 million tons, was built in Gwangyang, about 360 kilometers south of Seoul, following more than two years of construction and an investment of about 600 billion won ($396.7 million).
Unlike conventional steelmaking processes that rely primarily on iron ore and coal, EAFs recycle scrap metal and can reduce carbon emissions by up to 75 percent compared with blast furnaces, according to the company.
POSCO said it is also working on hybrid steelmaking technologies, such as mixing molten iron from blast furnaces and EAFs to maintain steel quality while reducing emissions, under a goal of mass-producing automotive steel sheets and electrical steel by 2030.