Parts of automotive low-carbon steel sheets are displayed at Hyundai Steel's exhibition booth at the H2 MEET show held at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 31. Courtesy of Hyundai Steel
By Kim Jae-heun
Hyundai Steel has taken its first step in producing low-carbon high-quality plates using a manufacturing process with significantly reduced carbon generation.
The company has succeeded in test-producing 1.0 GPa-class high-grade plates through electric furnaces for the first time in the world.
By utilizing a special electric furnace with refining technology that can adjust fine components and using ultra-high-tension steel-rolling technology, Hyundai Steel was able to reduce more than 30 percent of carbon emissions compared to prior automotive steel production processes.
Specifically, the low-carbon plate reduces carbon emissions in the iron production process by using reduced iron and steel scraps directly from the electric furnace instead of reducing iron ore and coal in the furnace.
There have been cases of producing some automotive steel with electric furnaces, but this is the first time in the world that a high-strength product with 1.0 GPa class or higher has been produced.
Hyundai Steel collaborated with Hyundai Motor and Kia to test the low-carbon production process.
It is meaningful in a way that Hyundai Steel used its old facility for producing the eco-friendly plates, which comply with its carbon-neutral strategy represented by "Hy-Cube." Hy-Cube is an electric furnace-based carbon-neutral steel production system introduced by Hyundai Steel. Its goal is to minimize carbon generation in production of high-quality automotive plates by using steel scrap, molten iron and direct reduced iron.
"Hyundai Steel confirmed the possibility of supplying low-carbon, high-end steel products using an electric furnace through successful test production. We will respond proactively to the low-carbon product market with carbon-neutral technology," a Hyundai Steel official said.
