– Announcement of key strategies for CCU promotion
– Designation and operation of key CCU research labs
The government is joining forces with the private sector to focus on carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technology as a next-generation industry. On April 4th, the Ministry of Science and ICT hosted an inauguration ceremony for the ‘Carbon Capture & Utilization Initiative’ at the Science and Technology Hall in Seoul.
CCU technology, which stands for Carbon Capture & Utilization, aims to reduce carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global warming, to achieve carbon neutrality while producing high-value-added products. This creates a dual effect: environmental benefits alongside industrial growth.
The Ministry of Science and ICT initiated the ‘CCU Initiative,’ an enterprise-focused consultative body, to harness collaboration among industry, academia, and research sectors. This aims to apply CCU technology across various fields such as petrochemicals, cement, and steel, and to reflect these discussions in laws, systems, and policies.
The ministry also announced the ‘CCU Key Promotion Strategy’ to accelerate a carbon-neutral society based on scientific and technological advancements through the focused nurturing of CCU technologies and industries. The strategy focuses on two main aspects: technology development and industry growth.
For technology development, they plan to improve the timeliness of securing core technologies by distinguishing between short-term and long-term goals.
In the short term, the strategy includes the designation and operation of key CCU research labs and the promotion of global flagship projects for CCU. This involves creating key CCU research labs to bring together research capabilities and achieve world-leading and systematic research-industry connections.
Additionally, they plan to engage in joint global research, recognizing the importance of international collaboration in CCU, through leading nations in the carbon neutrality flagship project focused on the joint development and demonstration of CCU technologies.
In the long term, the focus will be on promoting large-scale demonstration projects in CCU and enhancing the development of next-generation CCU technologies. They plan to establish a system for developing industries by connecting large-scale demonstration projects involving businesses, local governments, and research institutions, from CO2 suppliers to the production of CCU products.
Considering the challenges companies face in entering and demonstrating CCU technology on a large scale at the initial market formation stage, the government intends to prioritize large-scale demonstration projects in areas with high CO2 emissions like oil refining, petrochemicals, cement, steel, and power generation. This would create successful examples to encourage further industrial participation.
By strengthening support for developing next-generation CCU technologies such as direct air capture and non-capture conversion, they aim to secure crucial foundational technologies for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
Meanwhile, along with technology development, they will actively promote the growth of the CCU industry through the design and operation of systems to encourage business entry based on laws concerning carbon capture, transport, storage, and utilization (the CCUS Integrated Law).
They have plans to swiftly establish detailed management instructions to certify CCU technologies and products held by companies and institutions, and to clearly define the criteria and procedures for verification as specialized CCU companies.
During the policy forum, presentations included a lecture on CCU technology trends by Lee Young-guk, Director of Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, and examples of demonstration cases using CCU technologies from Hanwha Total Energies and Patec Co. Ltd. This was followed by panel discussions on the theme ‘Policy Tasks for Activating the CCU Industry.’
Lee Chang-yun, the first Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, emphasized that carbon neutrality is a crucial task for the survival of future generations and that the importance of CCU technology as a scientific solution is growing. He further stated that the ministry would actively pursue technology development, industry infrastructure formation, and system improvement in close communication with the private sector based on the CCU Initiative.