Korea Zinc to expand capacity to 500,000 tons annually
LS MnM expands nickel sulfate production
Korea’s top two smelters, Korea Zinc Inc. and LS MnM Inc. have identified sulfuric acid as a key new growth engine and are actively expanding production. Sulfuric acid can be produced domestically as a byproduct of the zinc and copper smelting process, even without the raw material sulfur.
While sulfuric acid was once primarily used for fertilizer, its territory has recently expanded to include key materials for advanced industries such as semiconductors and batteries. Large quantities of ultra-high-purity sulfuric acid are used in semiconductor manufacturing to wash away impurities from wafers. It is also essential for producing nickel sulfate and cobalt sulfate, which are raw materials for battery cathode materials.
According to the smelting industry, Korea Zinc plans to expand its semiconductor cleaning sulfuric acid production line from 280,000 tons to 320,000 tons annually, starting in the second half of this year. This is to proactively respond to the trend of expanding domestic semiconductor investments, such as Samsung Electronics’ construction of additional production lines at its Pyeongtaek site.
Korea Zinc is currently producing 280,000 tons of sulfuric acid for semiconductors annually across 19 lines at the Ulsan Onsan Smelter. The company plans to expand capacity to 500,000 tons per year in the long term. Separately, the company intends to build a production line with an annual capacity of 100,000 tons at the integrated smelter currently under construction in Tennessee, USA, to supply domestic semiconductor companies operating in the United States, starting in 2029.
LS MnM, the only copper-smelting company in Korea, is also benefiting from the soaring sulfuric acid prices. Instead of releasing into the atmosphere the sulfur dioxide gases emitted during the copper smelting process, LS MnM recovers it entirely and converts it into sulfuric acid.
The company plans to use this recovered sulfuric acid in the nickel and cobalt leaching processes at its Onsan battery materials plant, which is scheduled to be completed later this year, to produce nickel sulfate and cobalt sulfate.
As of this month, the spot price for sulfuric acid (98%) in East Asia is trading at around USD 300 per ton. This represents more than a threefold increase compared to the same period last year, when it traded at approximately USD 90 per ton.
August selling price set by KPC, a Kuwait state-owned sulfur company, is USD 865 per ton, which is more than triple the price of USD 259 per ton recorded in July of last year. The price of the raw material is higher than the finished product because one ton of sulfur can yield approximately three tons of sulfuric acid.
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