POSCO Future M Co., a battery material and steel manufacturing equipment supplier, said on Thursday it has developed electrode rods manufacturing technology for the first time as a South Korean company amid stricter export controls on key industrial materials by major economies.
It has succeeded in producing ultra-high-power electrode rods, key components in the steel manufacturing process, with a diameter of 300 millimeters.
An electrode rod is used to melt steel scrap in electric furnaces, or to remove impurities from molten iron in the refining process.
It converts electricity into thermal energy. The larger the diameter of the electrode rod and the higher the electrode density, the more the electric power increases, thereby improving production efficiency.
South Korea’s steelmakers have imported all of their electrode rod needs from China, Japan and India for a total of 30,000 tons annually. POSCO Future M’s development of the technology is expected to contribute to strengthening the country’s steel supply chain.
In line with environmental, social and governance management, demand is growing for high-density electrode rods fitting with electric furnaces emitting less carbon than blast furnaces.
The unit of POSCO Group will consider commercializing its electrode rods in cooperation with its steelmaking affiliate that completed electric furnaces at the Gwangyang steel plant in South Jeolla Province early this year.
By Yeonhee Kim edited this article
yhkim@hankyung.com
Jennifer Nicholson-Breen edited this article.
