KCC to mass produce ceramics for eco-friendly vacuum interrupters

KCC Corp. said on Thursday that it would mass produce ceramic products for eco-friendly vacuum interrupters that do not emit sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas.

Ceramics for KCC's vacuum circuit breakers are expected to be mainly applied to vacuum circuit breakers for power transmission and distribution equipment due to their excellent bonding and vacuum sealing properties.

Although SF6 gas is mainly used in gas circuit breakers for the power industry, the gas has emerged as the main culprit of global warming as its warming potential is 2,300 times higher than that of carbon dioxide.

Accordingly, the industry has actively searched for eco-friendly vacuum circuit breakers to reduce SF6 emissions.

Ceramics, used in vacuum circuit breakers that separate circuits in the case of normal load switching and electric current accidents, are produced by KCC alone in South Korea.

A KCC official explained that the eco-friendly vacuum circuit breaker to which the ceramics are applied is based on pure air and thus does not need SF6 gas at all.

Write to Byung-Keun Kim at bk11@hankyung.com