POSCO has finished building a 2.5 million tonne per year electric arc furnace at its Gwangyang steelworks, the largest EAF in South Korea. The project cost KRW 600 billion and took over two years. By using steel scrap instead of iron ore, the EAF cuts CO2 emissions by up to 75 percent compared to a conventional blast furnace. The move is a response to tighter carbon rules including Korea's Phase 4 Emissions Trading Scheme and the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. POSCO sees the EAF as a bridge until its HyRex hydrogen-reduction technology is ready around 2030. The company is also testing a hybrid process that blends molten iron from blast furnaces with EAF output to maintain quality for premium steel products while lowering emissions.
