Hyundai Steel has taken the first step towards producing “low-carbon, high-grade plates” by greatly reducing carbon emissions during the manufacturing process.
On September 13, the company announced that it became the first in the world to complete a trial production of 1.0GPa grade high-quality plate materials and parts using an electric furnace.
Hyundai Steel succeeded in producing the high-grade plate materials, which couldn’t be produced by previously existing electric furnaces, while at the same time reducing carbon emissions by more than 30% compared to blast furnaces. The low-emission production was made possible through the use of a special steel electric furnace refining technology that is capable of calibrating fine components and implementing the ultra-high-strength steel rolling technologies needed for automobiles.
The low-carbon plate material, successfully tested during pilot production, cuts down carbon emissions during the molten iron production process through the direct use of reduced and scrap iron in an electric furnace, as opposed to the use of molten iron, which is created by reducing iron ore and coal in a blast furnace.
Efforts have been made to carefully control quality-impairing elements such as copper (Cu), tin (Sn), sulfur (S), and nitrogen (N) using refining facilities that are different from existing electric furnaces. Rolling sector technologies typically used to produce exterior plates for automobiles and ultra-high-strength steel have also been a focus. Thanks to these efforts and its industry-specific expertise, Hyundai Steel has been able to actually manufacture “high-end plates for low-carbon automobiles” as part of the pursuit of its carbon-neutral strategy.
In the past, some manufacturers have produced automobile steel using electric furnaces, but Hyundai Steel’s recent success marks the world’s first case in which an electric furnace was used to make high-strength products and parts with a grade of 1.0GPa or higher.
The success of Hyundai Steel’s low-carbon plate trial production was made possible thanks to collaboration with Hyundai Motor Group’s Basic Materials R&D Center. The successful production of the plate is significant in that it affirms Hyundai Steel’s ability to product low-carbon products, which, in the current market, are rapidly being sought after and adopted by overseas automakers.
In addition, by manufacturing the low-carbon, high-quality plates using existing facilities rather than building new ones, Hyundai Steel is now one step further in realizing its carbon-neutral strategy, represented by the company’s “Hy-Cube” system.
Hyundai Steel had previously announced its launch of “Hy-Cube,” a carbon-neutral steel production system created based on electric furnaces. “Hy-Cube” is unique in that it uses scrap iron, molten iron (produced in the blast furnace) and DRI (direct reduced iron), etc. in the company’s new electric furnace, dubbed Hy-Arc, to minimize carbon generation and produce high-quality plate materials such as automobile steel sheets.
“With the success of this trial production, Hyundai Steel has proven its ability to supply high-quality, low-carbon products using electric furnaces,” said a Hyundai Steel spokesperson. “We will preemptively respond to the market for low-carbon products through the continued development of our carbon-neutral technologies.”