From steel to rare gases… POSCO Group’s dream of a ‘Triple Core’ taking shape in Gwangyang - 경향신문

This article was translated by an AI tool. Feedback Here.

A view of POSCO Air Solution rare-gas production plant in Gwangyang-si, Gwangju, Jeonnam. Provided by POSCO Group

On the 2nd, in Geumho-dong, Gwangyang-si, Gwangju, Jeonnam. In a warehouse of a factory far smaller than the nearby Gwangyang Works and the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, gray cylinders stood in rows. In these ordinary cylinders, which look similar to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanks, were four kinds of rare gases: xenon, krypton, neon, and helium.

A plant official began, “It is the neon you know from neon signs. You were surprised that it does not sparkle, were you not?” He added, “Without this colorless, odorless gas, neither semiconductors nor artificial satellites would exist.” He said he felt proud as well.

This is the POSCO Air Solution rare-gas production plant, completed in June this year. It produces high-purity rare gases using feedstock (crude) extracted at the oxygen plant of POSCO. Although only 55 employees work at the Gwangyang headquarters, it is the first in Korea to establish a full process system from sourcing feedstock for four types of rare gases to producing finished products.

The rare gases produced here are supplied to advanced industries such as semiconductors and space. Helium is a key material needed for semiconductor wafer processes and for cooling equipment. Xenon and krypton are used as propellants for electric thrusters mounted on satellites and space probes. Bae Sang-bok, production manager at POSCO Air Solution, whom we met on site, said, “We can now supply rare gases, which until now have depended on imports, with our own capabilities,” adding, “that is the value this plant holds.”

In July, POSCO Group presented what it calls a ‘Triple Core’ vision, moving beyond a steel-centered business structure to encompass strategic and energy resources. The blueprint lays out a plan to reorganize the portfolio by adding strategic resources such as lithium, anode and cathode materials, and rare earths, and energy resources such as LNG and renewables, to industrial resources like steel that have been the mainstay since the era of Pohang Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., founded in April 1968.

Some have assessed it as a stopgap strategy offered amid difficulties in the steel industry caused by a flood of cheap, generic Chinese products, tariff shocks from the United States and the European Union (EU), and rising raw material costs. However, Jang In-hwa, chairman of POSCO Group, said, “Now, as external uncertainties deepen, is precisely the time to boldly innovate the business portfolio and create new growth opportunities,” adding, “We will broaden the scope of our business and take the lead in strengthening national industrial security and supply chains.”

If steel laid the foundation of the nation during industrialization in the 1970s, this is also an expression of the will to safeguard the industrial bedrock with critical minerals and future materials now. POSCO Air Solution was a space where the values pursued by POSCO Group were fully embedded.

Lithium carbonate packaged in a warehouse of POSCO HY Clean Metal in Gwangyang-si, Gwangju, Jeonnam. Provided by POSCO Group

Another feature of the POSCO Group ‘Triple Core’ strategy is an emphasis on eco-friendliness. It seeks both to shed the former image of environmental damage associated with the steel industry and to respond to tightened global environmental regulations.

POSCO HY Clean Metal in Gwangyang, visited on the 3rd, is a representative company putting this into practice. It runs a recycling business that, using proprietary technology, recovers key valuable metals such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium from black mass obtained from end-of-life electric-vehicle batteries and scrap generated in battery manufacturing, and supplies them again as feedstock for precursors and cathode materials.

Based on Plant 1, POSCO HY Clean Metal can process 12,000 tons of black mass annually. From this, it produces 2,500 tons of lithium carbonate, 12,000 tons of nickel sulfate, 3,800 tons of cobalt sulfate, and 2,000 tons of manganese sulfate. Song Kyu-young, plant manager at POSCO HY Clean Metal, explained that it is “a scale sufficient to produce more than 60,000 electric vehicles.” In the warehouse, ton bags, each holding 500㎏ by product, were awaiting shipment.

Scrap charging equipment for the electric arc furnace at POSCO Gwangyang Works in Gwangyang-si, Gwangju, Jeonnam. Provided by POSCO Group

The apex of the POSCO Group eco-friendly push could be seen at the electric arc furnace plant at POSCO Gwangyang Works, completed in June this year as the largest in the country on a single-facility basis. The conventional blast furnace-converter route, which uses coal, favors mass production but emits a considerable amount of carbon. By contrast, an electric arc furnace uses steel scrap as feedstock and can reduce carbon emissions by about 75%. During the visit on the 2nd, workers were busily moving finely shredded steel scrap.

Still, high production costs and an operating rate stuck in the ten-percent range are cited as challenges to be solved. A plant official said, “Even so, we need to keep pace with carbon-reduction policies worldwide, including the EU,” and predicted, “From 2030, we may be able to run the electric arc furnace at 100%.” Another official said, “Even if it does not make money, it is a path we must take for the future of steel.”

On the 10th in Gwangyang, a completion ceremony was held for POSCO International second LNG terminal. A total of 949.2 billion won was invested to build two 200,000㎘ (kiloliter) class LNG storage tanks and related facilities. With the completion of the second terminal, total storage capacity increased from 930,000㎘ to 1,330,000㎘. This is sufficient to store heating gas for the entire population for 40 days.

An LNG terminal is infrastructure that unloads and stores LNG brought in by demand-side customers, then regasifies it and sends it to consumers. POSCO Group has made the Gwangyang LNG terminal a forward base for implementing its energy strategy, one pillar of the ‘Triple Core’ approach. At the completion ceremony that day, Chairman Jang also stressed ‘contributing to national energy security’. The dream of expanding the emblematic POSCO Group spirit of ‘building the nation through steelmaking’ into ‘building the nation through resources’ was ripening in Gwangyang.