"Korea Ranks 8th Globally in CCU Technology... Leading the World in Mineralization Field [C Tech Now]"

10-Year Analysis of Papers and Patents Standardization Scores
US 76.8 Points vs China 51.7 Points Shows Large Gap
Ministry of Science and ICT Advances Technology by 4 Major Regions
Large Corporations Actively Consider Commercializing Core Technologies

Unlike the United States and Europe, where Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) technology has begun commercialization, most domestic efforts remain at the fundamental technology development stage. Although some competitive utilization technologies have been developed, they have not reached the commercialization level due to reasons such as lack of economic feasibility.

The Korea CCUS (K-CCUS) Promotion Team recently stated, "In Korea, mineral carbonation technology, acetic acid production technology, and microalgae technology are currently undergoing demonstration," adding, "In particular, mineralization technology, which is evaluated to have the greatest potential for greenhouse gas reduction, has secured world-class large-scale utilization technology and is closest to commercialization."

According to the 'Global Research and Development (R&D) Strategic Map' announced by the Ministry of Science and ICT in February this year, Korea's carbon utilization technology level in Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) was ranked 8th worldwide. Analyzing papers and patents over the past 10 years to derive a standardization score (relative score with the top-ranked country set as the highest), the United States received the highest score of 76.8. China followed with 51.7 points in second place, and Japan was third with 40.7 points.

Korea was ranked 8th with 7.7 points, following Germany (17.5), the United Kingdom (10.7), France (9.3), and the Netherlands (8.1). There is a significant gap compared to the United States, China, and Japan. Other CCUS technology levels such as carbon capture (6th worldwide) and carbon storage (22nd worldwide) were also found to be considerably behind major countries.

The Ministry of Science and ICT established a CCU technology advancement strategy in December last year and is promoting CCU flagship projects in four major regions: the western, southern, southeastern, and central regions. In the western region, a demonstration platform is being built to foster various industries and CCU technologies such as chemical, biological, and mineralization. In the southern region, the plan is to enhance technological competitiveness by linking with the region's strength in the petrochemical industry.

In the southeastern region, the plan is to produce methanol using exhaust gas from emission processes, and in the central region, to produce secondary construction products linked to the region's specialized cement industry. In this regard, the Ministry of Science and ICT plans to launch a public contest for the construction of CCU demonstration plants between June and July.

Domestically, SK Innovation, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, Korea University, and the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources are actively developing CCU-related technologies. In March, Dr. Woong Lee's team at KIST's Clean Energy Research Center disclosed research results developing a new CCU process that converts carbon dioxide into formic acid (methanoic acid).

Formic acid, a type of organic acid, is a high value-added compound used in various industries such as leather, food, and pharmaceuticals, with an annual consumption of 1 million tons. The research team explained that applying the new process could significantly reduce the production cost of formic acid from about $790 per ton to $490 per ton.

Large corporations showing interest in CCU are also increasing. In April, GS Caltex signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology for cooperation and strategic partnership in the CCU business. Under this agreement, both parties plan to collaborate on CCU technology development, infrastructure inspection, and commercialization feasibility review.

GS Caltex is researching ways to convert carbon dioxide into fuels such as gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel, and petrochemical basic raw materials through chemical conversion technologies including hydrogen addition and catalyst utilization. GS Caltex also plans to review the commercialization potential of CCU-related fundamental technologies held by the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology.