POSCO and South Korea Advance Green Steel with 300,000 Tonne Hydrogen Reduction Demo Under K-GX
hydrogenfuelnews.comPOSCO Holdings has teamed up with the South Korean government under the K-GX strategy to build a hydrogen-based steelmaking demonstration plant. The facility will use POSCO's HyREX process to replace coke with hydrogen in iron ore reduction, producing direct-reduced iron and water vapor instead of CO2. The demonstration is set for around 2028, with an annual capacity of 300,000 tonnes at Pohang and Ulsan, backed by a broader national plan to mobilize roughly 1,000 trillion won in public and policy-backed financing through 2035. The Steel GX project is one of ten signature K-GX initiatives aimed at decarbonizing heavy industry. It also ties into South Korea's 100 GW renewable energy target by 2030 and its push to scale green hydrogen production. The stated long-term goal is to expand hydrogen-reduction steel capacity to 2.5 million tonnes by 2035, though the article notes that hydrogen-based steel may stay more expensive than conventional blast furnace steel, even with policy support. For readers tracking industrial decarbonization, the interesting parts are the financing structure, the CBAM-driven export pressure, and whether the demonstration can actually deliver on cost and hydrogen supply. The project is positioned as a template for other hard-to-abate sectors like cement and petrochemicals, so its success or failure will matter well beyond steel.