LG Electronics said on the 23rd that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Busan Metropolitan City at Busan City Hall for "implementing carbon neutrality through the creation and conservation of a blue carbon ecosystem."
At the signing ceremony were Choi Seong-bong, executive vice president and head of LG Electronics' Built-in Cooking Solution Business Unit; Yoon Dae-sik, executive vice president in charge of external relations; Kim Young-seok, head of the HS Functional Materials Business Office; and Park Heong-joon, mayor of Busan Metropolitan City.
Under the agreement, LG Electronics and Busan Metropolitan City will conduct a pilot project in a 1,500-square-meter (m²) salt marsh at the Nakdong River estuary to verify the growth of halophytes and the efficiency of carbon absorption when marine glass is applied.
Marine glass is a functional glass material that turns into mineral ions when it meets water, precisely dissolving into the water at a constant rate the mineral ions needed for the growth of marine organisms such as seaweed, microalgae, and halophytes.
Based on this, the two institutions will seek cooperation in various fields, including ▲ implementing carbon neutrality through the creation and conservation of a blue carbon ecosystem ▲ creating the Busan Nakdong River Garden and restoring the Nakdong River salt marsh ▲ verifying the potential to expand blue carbon by creating sea forests.
Halophytes such as reeds and glasswort are blue carbon, which has recently drawn attention as a carbon sink. Blue carbon absorbs carbon faster and has greater storage capacity than terrestrial ecosystems, emerging as a solution for responding to climate change.
LG Electronics expects marine glass to help restore blue carbon and create sea forests. Previously, after commissioning a third-party testing agency3), the company confirmed that when reeds were grown in a culture medium containing marine glass, the initial growth rate was faster than with a general culture medium.
Meanwhile, LG Electronics has marked the new materials business as a new B2B growth area and is focusing on research and development and commercialization. This year, it signed an MOU with the Blue Carbon Project Group at Seoul National University and began discovering new businesses and jointly developing technologies to vitalize the blue carbon industry at home and abroad, and it also carried out a project with the National Water Industry Cluster Project Group and the Korea Water Forum to verify the laundry performance of detergents containing "mineral wash" and their water and power saving effects.
In addition to marine glass, LG Electronics has expanded its portfolio of new glass powder-based materials to include ▲ "Purotech," a functional antimicrobial and antifungal material that, when added in small amounts to plastic, paint, or rubber, suppresses odor and contamination caused by microorganisms ▲ "mineral wash," a laundry functional material that can replace surfactants in detergents.
To date, it has filed 420 patents related to glass powder and has production facilities with an annual capacity of 4,500 tons at the Changwon Smart Park in South Gyeongsang.
Baek Seung-tae, head of the HS Business Division (executive vice president) at LG Electronics, said, "We will continue diverse collaborations to contribute to ecosystem conservation and solving carbon issues with new materials technology while seeking new business opportunities."