POSCO unveils full secondary battery value chain

[Photo provided by POSCO Holdings Inc.]

POSCO Holdings Inc., the holding company of South Korea’s steel giant POSCO Group, unveiled its full value chain for secondary battery materials to the media earlier this week, commemorating the 100th day of Chairman Chang In-hwa taking office.

The event included visits to the Pohang Steelworks in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, POSCO Future M Co.’s cathode materials plant, POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution Co.’s lithium hydroxide plant, and POSCO HY Clean Metal Co.’s secondary battery recycling plant in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province.

The visits were made to showcase the achievements of the group’s two major divisions: steel and secondary battery materials.

Chang has been particularly emphasizing “rebuilding steel competitiveness” and “securing a leading position in secondary battery material competitiveness and technology” among his seven future innovation tasks identified at his inauguration.

The Yulchon Industrial Complex in Gwangyang strategically locates POSCO Future M’s cathode materials plant, POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution’s lithium hydroxide plant, and POSCO HY Clean Metal’s secondary battery recycling plant within walking distance of each other.

This setup aims to enhance cooperation among related businesses by improving accessibility and reducing logistics costs.

The raw material plant managed by POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution marks the start of the value chain.

POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution, founded in 2021, is a joint venture between POSCO Holdings and Pilbara Minerals Ltd., an Australian miner from which POSCO Group has been securing lithium raw materials.

POSCO expects to complete a second plant of the joint venture in just a week, with its comprehensive completion slated for the end of September.

When the press visited the raw material warehouse of POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution, there were lithium ore raw materials imported from Australia piled high like sand dunes in a desert.

[Graphics by Song Ji-yoon and Yoon Yeon-hae]

The raw materials stored in the warehouse are transported to the plant, where they are mixed with sulfuric acid and transformed into lithium sulfate solution.

By electrolysis, hydroxide ions (OH) are added to produce lithium hydroxide solution, from which unnecessary components are removed to obtain lithium hydroxide needed for battery production.

Processing 1,000 tons of ore yields only 25 tons of lithium hydroxide, illustrating the technical complexity involved.

Once fully operational, POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution will produce 43,000 tons of lithium hydroxide annually, enough to manufacture about one million electric vehicles.

This output will internalize the entire lithium demand (approximately 43,000 tons) required for the Gwangyang cathode materials plant to produce 90,000 tons of cathode materials annually.

“We anticipate an increase in the added value of raw materials within the secondary battery supply chain and plans to accelerate our investment focused on high-profit raw materials,” said Baung Jin-chul, executive vice president of POSCO Holdings.

The Pohang Steelworks, located about a three-hour drive from Gwangyang, has been focusing on securing hydrogen reduction steelmaking technology.

POSCO aims to develop HyREX (Hydrogen Reduction) technology, which uses up to 100 percent hydrogen, based on its proprietary FINEX technology that uses 25 percent hydrogen and 75 percent carbon monoxide as a reducing agent, and replace existing blast furnaces with electric furnaces and HyREX by 2050.

POSCO unveiled a test facility for electric smelting furnaces used in HyREX technology to the media for the first time.

Unlike European steelmakers transitioning to hydrogen reduction steelmaking using high-grade iron ore in shaft furnaces, POSCO is test-operating a fluidized reduction furnace with an electric smelting furnace, which has fewer raw material restrictions.

POSCO Holdings integrated the electric smelting furnace expertise from SNNC Co., a group company, with its FINEX technology.