CEO Choi was elected chairman of the World Steel Association at its General Assembly meeting in Brussels, Belgium on October 18
Presented with the Steelie Awards in two categories: ‘Innovation of the year’ and ‘Excellence in sustainability’, with Smart Safety Ball adopted as the best health and safety practice
PCEO Jeong-woo Choi said, “Steel is the core of green materials of the future…to lay a foundation for the commercialization of hydrogen reduction steelmaking.”
POSCO Group CEO Jeong-woo Choi was elected as the 44th chairman of World Steel Association at its general assembly in Brussels, Belgium on October 18 (local time).
Chairman Choi will represent the world steel industry for one year along with Sajjan Jindal, the Vice-Chairman of the World Steel Association and Chairman and Managing Director of Jindal Steel Works Limited, and Leon Topalian, President & CEO of Nucor in the United States.
The Board of Directors of the World Steel Association consists of one chairman and two vice-chairmen with a term of office of three years.
Chairman Choi has led outstanding business results at POSCO and demonstrated global leadership by successfully hosting the Hydrogen Iron & Steel Making Forum (HylS Forum) where Hydrogen Reduction Steelmaking was discussed for the first time in the steel industry. In October 2021, he was elected Vice Chairman of the World Steel Association and held office for one year.
Chairman Choi is the fourth chairman of the World Steel Association from the POSCO Group, following Mahn-je Kim (1996~1997), Ku-taek Lee (2007~2008), and Jun-yang Chung (2013~2014).
POSCO Group Chairman Choi said, “Steel will become the core of green materials of the future, and I will guide all steel companies to be united to lay a foundation for the commercialization of hydrogen reduction steelmaking, and tackle issues steel industry is facing such as net-zero carbon and ESG management.”
Meanwhile, POSCO was recognized in two categories (Innovation of the year / Excellence in sustainability) in the Steelie Awards hosted by the 2022 World Steel Association. Its Smart Safety Ball was also adopted as the best health and safety practice during the general assembly period that started on October 16.
The Steelie Awards has recognized member companies that have made significant contributions to the steel industry every year since 2010. The awards are given in six categories: Excellence in low-carbon steel production, Innovation of the year, Excellence in sustainability, Excellence in life cycle assessment, Excellence in education and training, Excellence in communications programmes.
In the “Innovation of the year” category, POSCO’s stainless wide plates (width: over 1,200 mm) high-speed alternating current electrolysis acid pickling technology was recognized.
The technology is used to accelerate acid pickling where contaminants are removed from stainless wide steel plates and surfaces are cleaned using alternating current. It was developed by POSCO for the first time in the world.
The technology can lessen environmental impact by reducing the use of mixed acid, a chemical used for the existing acid pickling process, and can also be applied to the production of other products such as carbon steel requiring the acid pickling process.
In the category of “Excellence in sustainability”, POSCO’s shell recycling was recognized.
By focusing on the idea that the principal ingredient of shells is similar to limestone, POSCO successfully used processed shells to replace limestone in the sintering process where iron ore is changed to lumps.
The case of shell recycling drew a favorable response, as it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance the green image of the steel industry and solve environmental issues such as community wastewater and stench.
POSCO is the only Korean company to be recognized eight times by the Steelie Awards — five times (2012, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021) in the Innovation of the year category, twice in the Excellence in sustainability category (2010, 2020), and once in the Excellence in communications programmes category (2021).
Smart Safety Ball, a harmful gas detection device developed by POSCO for the first time in the world, was certified as the best health and safety practice. This is the third certification for POSCO’s health and safety system, following POSCO’s safety system in 2010 and Safety Golden Ball in 2020.
Smart Safety Ball, with a diameter of 60 mm and weight of 100 g, can detect three gases – oxygen (O₂), carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) – and prevent safety incidents by quickly measuring the concentration of gases in a sealed working environment or prior to maintenance work.
The measured values are remotely checked on a real-time basis, and in the case of detected risks, warning messages and information on risk location are transmitted to colleagues and managers as well as the operator of the device.
POSCO was selected as the world’s most competitive steelmaker by World Steel Dynamics (WSD), a global steel industry information service, for 12 consecutive years, and was presented with the “Steel Industry Leadership” award by S&P Global Platts in 2018 and 2020. In addition, POSCO was chosen as the Sustainability Champion by the World Steel Association in April this year, demonstrating the world’s best competitiveness in the steelmaking industry.
▲ POSCO Group CEO Jeong-woo Choi was elected as chairman of the World Steel Association at the general assembly in Brussels, Belgium on October 18 (local time). Chairman Choi is shown with the former chairman of the World Steel Association, Sajjan Jindal, chairman of JSW (Jindal Steel Works Limited) of India.
▲ POSCO Group CEO Jeong-woo Choi
▲ In the 2022 Steelie Awards, POSCO’s “stainless wide plates high-speed alternating current electrolysis acid pickling technology” was recognized in the “Innovation of the year” category. Seen here is stainless steel cold rolled coil produced at the Pohang Works of POSCO.
▲ In the 2022 Steelie Awards, POSCO’s “shell recycling” was recognized in the sustainability category. Seen here are processed shells gathered in the raw material storage yard of POSCO Gwangyang Works
▲ Smart Safety Ball, a harmful gas detection device developed by POSCO for the first time in the world, was certified as the best health and safety practice by the World Steel Association.