Hyundai Steel and POSCO start joint project to recycle seashells

Hyundai Steel and POSCO, Korea’s two largest steel manufacturers are starting a joint project in order to recycle seashells for producing steel. So far steelmakers rely on limestone in order to break down iron ore into fine pieces. However, Hyundai Steel and POSCO aim to go greener and as South Korea alone produces over 300,000 tons of discarded seashells every year, the companies plan to recycle them as a replacement for limestone.

Just as limestone, seashells are made mostly of calcium carbonate. So far it was not sure whether or not seashells could be used in the same way as limestone in order to produce steel, as so far no technology existed to extract the needed substance from the seashells. However, thanks to years of research by Jeollanamdo based company Yeosu Bio, engineers came up with the necessary technology on behalf of the two steel giants.

This new technology is hoped to help solve environmental issues connected to steel production and to help the two companies to ensure carbon neutrality in the future.

Moreover, their main steel plant, which is also the largest steel plant in the world is located in the Gwangyang Bay Area in the southern part of Jeollanamdo. Therefore, Jeollanamdo will play an important role in the upcoming greener production of steel.

More information on the Gwangyang Bay Area Free Economic Zone can be found here.

Gwangyang Bay Area Free Economic Bay – English
Gwangyang Bay Area Free Economic Bay – English

Jeollanamdo’s first store in Europe

On September 7th, the first Jeollanamdo shop-in-shop opened in Europe at Panasia Asia Food Center in Vienna. The Shop-in-Shop offers some of the finest products from the Jeollanamdo region which is well known for its rice, grain, vegetables and seaweed. For the opening ceremony several high-ranking representatives of Korean companies and politics in Vienna were invited to cut ribbons to formally open Jeollanamdos first shop in Europe.

Panasia is one of Europe’s biggest importers of Korean and Asian food products and is running local stores across various cities in Europe, including Vienna, Austria and Frankfurt, Germany. Panasia became the first offline-partner of Jeollanamdo in Europe and is aiming to import more and more products from Jeollanamdo.

The Jeollanamdo shop offers various products, including rice, grain, seaweed and green tea from Jeollanamdo’s famous green tea plantations in Boseong County. As Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) is coming closer, Ddeok, a Korean traditional rice cake, also becomes available at Panasia, imported directly from Jeollanamdo.