POSCO, the world's fourth-largest steelmaker, is aggressively widening its business lines, particularly in eco-friendly energy and materials business, as the company seeks new growth engines.
On Aug. 22, the steelmaker set up an affiliate POSCO Electrical & Electronic to transform household sewage into so-called "refuse-derived fuel" and use it to generate electricity. The heat generated during the procedure can be used for other purposes.
In other words, POSCO E&E dries and reshapes sewage to make it a complementary coal fuel used to generate electricity.
POSCO officials said the company is doing the waste-to-fuel business in Busan and Pohang only, but plans to expand the business across the nation.
Another growth engine of the steelmaker is development of fuel cells that can replace diesel engines currently used for ships.
The company's subsidiary POSCO Power plans to develop related fuel-cell technologies from as early as next month.
POSCO said the new technology will help ships comply with the international regulation which forces shipbuilders to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by twice the current reduction level by 2016.
POSCO Power will start building a "stack" manufacturing plant at the fuel cell production mill in Pohang from the end of the year, company officials said. The facility is essential in generating electricity.
"POSCO will invest 432 billion won ($368.6 million) by 2012 to commercialize a third-generation fuel cell that can replace the phosphate and melted carbonate fuel cell," a POSCO official said.
The steelmaker is also eyeing on synthetic natural gas manufacturing business using cheap coal, in partnership with SK Energy.
After gasification of cheap coal in high temperature and high pressure, the company can produce synthetic natural gas through refining and synthesis process, official said.
Only the United States is operating one synthetic natural gas manufacturing plant now and the future prospect of the business is remarkably bright, they said.
POSCO plans to invest 1 trillion won by 2013 to build a coal gasification plant to produce 500,000 tons of synthetic natural gas a year, according to the company.
Through this business, the steelmaker will be able to secure synthetic natural gas that is 30 percent cheaper than existing natural gas as well as to help the local industry reduce 200 billion won worth annual imports of expensive natural gas, company officials said. The large-scale investment will also help create more than 300,000 jobs a year, they said.
The development of synthetic natural gas is part of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy's "future growth smart projects."
Materials development is another sector for POSCO to find fresh revenues.
Last month, the company held an across-the-board workshop to discover new opportunities in comprehensive materials business such as super-strong, super-light materials and next-generation new materials in Gyeongju in North Gyeongsang Province.
POSCO is to review each business prospect for each material by the end of this month and reflect it in the mid-term management strategy, company officials said.
"From early next year, the company will be able to actively engage in R&D for materials applications and related business," a POSCO official said.
POSCO CEO Chung Joon-yang signed a memorandum of agreement on Sept. 29 with Kazahkstan's UKTMP to jointly establish a titanium slab manufacturing firm.
Under the agreement, POSCO and UKTMP will each invest 50 percent of stakes in the company to build a titanium slab plant in Ust-Kamenogorsk, eastern part of Kazakhstan.
If the titanium slabs are shipped to POSCO in Korea to make titanium coil, Korea will become the world's fourth country to produce titanium-based coil after Japan, Russia and the United States, the steelmaker said.
Titanium is resistant to sea water, light but strong and nonferrous metal which can be used for shipbuilding, atomic power generation, water containing, airplane engines and frames.
On Sept. 1, POSCO established ferromanganese manufacturing company POS-HiMetal. The company plans to start the construction of the plant in April next year and complete the construction in September 2011, to produce 75,000 tons of highly pure ferromanganese a year, POSCO said.
Highly pure ferromanganese is used as raw materials for automobile high manganese steel. To date, Korea used to import solid manganese metal 100 percent from China but the supply has recently become somewhat instable.
POSCO witnessed the need for development of highly pure ferromanganese because too much input of solid manganese metals lowered the temperature of molten iron to an excessive level, causing quality deterioration and cost buildup.
POSCO will spend 220 billion won in building the highly pure ferromanganese manufacturing plant and adopt Dongbu Metal's patented technology in the early business period, the steelmaker said.
Source:
Korea Herald
