Manufacturing Sector on Alert Amid Soaring Electricity Costs... Development of Technology to Improve Electric Furnace Efficiency

K-Road Robotics Begins Development of Laser-Based Continuous Electric Furnace
Aims to Cut Power Consumption for Artificial Graphite Production by 50%

As industrial electricity costs continue to rise, manufacturing sites with high power consumption are accelerating the development of technologies aimed at reducing energy use.

On June 15, K-Road Robotics, a company specializing in industrial robots and automation, announced that it is developing a laser-based continuous electric furnace technology that can halve industrial electricity consumption.

K-Road Robotics has been selected as the lead research and development institution for the 2026 Core Technology Development Project for Energy Demand Management and the Energy Efficiency Innovation Technology Development Project, both overseen by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning. The project is titled "Development of a High-Efficiency Continuous Electric Furnace System for Artificial Graphite Production for Secondary Battery Anode Materials with Reduced Energy Consumption." The total R&D budget is 16.717 billion won, of which 12 billion won is funded by the government.

The project includes K-Road Robotics as the lead institution, with KAIST, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, UNIST, Korea Testing & Research Institute, EFC, and I&ND participating as partners. POSCO Future M will participate as a demand company, responsible for verifying the quality of artificial graphite and linking the project to mass production.

Industrial electricity rates in Korea have risen by up to 76% over the past three years, reaching about 180 won per kWh. This is roughly twice the U.S. rate, and the top 30 companies in terms of electricity consumption paid more than 16 trillion won in electricity bills last year alone. These rising costs are especially burdening manufacturing sectors such as battery materials, steel, ceramics, and chemicals, which rely on electric furnaces and high-temperature heat treatment processes.

The conventional Acheson electric furnace, which K-Road Robotics seeks to replace, heats the entire furnace interior to around 3,000 degrees Celsius. Each heating and cooling cycle takes 72 hours, with power consumption reaching about 12,000 kWh per ton. K-Road Robotics plans to reduce heat loss by using a high-powered laser to precisely heat only the required areas of raw materials as they move along a conveyor.

The company aims to reduce electricity consumption to below 6,000 kWh per ton and to more than double productivity compared to existing methods.

Artificial graphite is a key material for electric vehicle battery anodes, accounting for 30–40% of a battery’s weight. The company expects that once this technology is commercialized, it will not only reduce energy costs but also contribute to the localization of artificial graphite production and the stabilization of supply chains.

K-Road Robotics anticipates that the direct commercialization effect of this project will generate more than 1.45 billion won in economic value per year. The greenhouse gas reduction effect is estimated at 21,100 tCO₂eq annually, with related sales targets of 24.9 billion won in 2029 and 53.6 billion won in 2031.

Inseung Shin, CEO of K-Road Robotics, stated, "With electricity costs undermining the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector, technology that doubles heating efficiency is not just about reducing costs—it is about transforming the industrial landscape. We aim to develop this into a platform technology that can be applied not only to artificial graphite but also to a wide range of high-temperature industries such as cathode materials and steelmaking."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.