From the left, Cho Jeong-sik, CEO of SK Eco Plant Eco Solution BU, Park Young-gyu, head of Korea Midland Power's Technology Safety Headquarters, and KCMT CEO Joon-young Kim are taking a commemorative photo (photo courtesy of SK Eco Plant)

On the 1st, SK Eco Plant signed a business agreement with Korea Midland Power (MIPO) and KCMT for the 'KEco-bar carbon credit development project'.

The agreement ceremony held at the head office in Susong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, was attended by officials such as Cho Jeong-sik, CEO of SK Eco Plant Eco Solution BU, Park Yeong-gyu, head of Korea Midland Power Technology Safety Headquarters, and Kim Joon-young, CEO of KCMT.

K-Eco Bar is a construction material that replaces steel bars developed through a joint venture between SK Eco Plant and KCMT. It is produced by recycling PET bottles as raw materials for the first time in the world, and unlike steel bars, it does not use scrap metal or limestone during the production process, so carbon emissions are low. Currently, a new plant capable of producing 40,000 tons per year is also being built in Ulsan, and is scheduled to be completed in November.

Through this agreement, SK Eco Plant and KOMIPO will seek to secure carbon credits equal to the amount of greenhouse gases reduced through K-Eco bar production. In order to trade carbon credits, it is first necessary to establish standards, calculation methods, procedures, etc. to find out how the project has reduced or absorbed greenhouse gases. After that, it is necessary to register an external business with related government agencies such as the Ministry of Environment.

SK Ecoplant plans to conduct monitoring to collect and provide data and data necessary for external business registration. KOMIPO takes the lead in performing all tasks for external business registration.

In the future, KOMIPO plans to purchase all of the carbon credits certified through K-Ecobar for a certain period of time. According to KOMIPO, it is expected to secure about 8,000 tons of carbon credits per year. KCMT also cooperates to promote the registration and sales of K-Eco Bar.

K-EKO bar is resistant to corrosion because it does not rust, is twice as hard as steel bars, and weighs one-fourth as light. Due to the nature of the construction material, it is evaluated as a groundbreaking technology that can increase the resource circulation rate of PET bottles because it is not restricted to color, so there is no problem using colored PET bottles as well as transparent PET bottles.

Jo Jung-sik Cho, CEO of Eco Solution BU of SK Eco Plant, said, “The K-Eco bar itself, which recycles discarded PET bottles, is eco-friendly, but it is expected to create additional added value through this project.”

Source [Seoul = Newsis] Reporter Koh Ga-hye