Shipyard, battery-recycling engineers win Korea's November engineer award

South Korea's science ministry on Monday named two engineers as the November winners of the Republic of Korea Engineer Award, honoring work on eco-friendly ship coatings and on automating the dismantling of used electric-vehicle batteries.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Industrial Technology Association selected Hwang Hyang-an, head of a coatings materials research group at Samsung Heavy Industries' ship and offshore research institute, and Cho Yun-ho, chief executive of TMS Industry, for the award, which comes with a vice-premier's prize and 5 million won ($3,682) in cash.

Hwang was recognized for developing anti-corrosion paint for ships that contains almost no volatile organic compounds, and for antifouling coatings that keep marine organisms from attaching to hulls without using harmful substances such as copper pyrithione. Conventional anti-corrosion coatings contain more than 30 percent volatile organic compounds, which carry toxicity and fire risks; Hwang's formulation was applied to a full-scale vessel in 2018, the world's first such application, and has since been used on more than 250 ships, the ministry said.

He also commercialized seven low-toxicity antifouling coating products within three years.

"I will do my utmost to raise the sustainable technological standing of Korea's shipbuilding industry through technology development that leads the shift toward eco-friendly and safe ship coatings," Hwang said in a statement released with the award.

Cho, the TMS Industry chief executive, was honored for automating the entire used-battery recycling process — freezing, discharging, shredding and separation — using the company's own battery clamping and transfer devices and collaborative robots. The system is designed to reduce exposure to toxic gases and dust, and to cut fire and explosion risks. By applying treatment methods tailored to each type of battery, it shortened processing time by 25 percent, cut staffing needs by 30 percent and reduced space requirements by 60 percent, while doubling daily throughput, according to the ministry.

TMS Industry was recognized as a corporate research institute by the science ministry in 2023 and has filed or registered about 10 patents related to optimizing used-battery recycling. The company, which has raised about 1.1 billion won ($810,074) in cumulative investment, posted sales of about 2.6 billion won in 2026.

"I will continue to advance process automation technology that raises safety and productivity, boost the competitiveness of Korea's resource-circulation industry and work to enter global markets," Cho said.

The award has been run since 2002 with funding from the ministry's science and technology promotion fund and lottery proceeds.