However, these building projects are on another level of huge, and with all the megacities popping up throughout the country, China boasts many of the biggest infrastructure projects in the world. Here’s the Steel Wire’s look at some of the most impressive to date.

Three Gorges Dam

China is home to the largest dam in the world, measuring 1.5 miles in length and sitting 60 (!) stories tall. The Three Gorges Dam took 1.92 million tons of rolled steel to complete, along with 10.82 million tons of cement and 1.6 million cubic meters of timber. The dam opened in 2003 on the Yangtze River and last year, generated a record-high 97.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, 4.35 percent higher than the previous year.

The Three Gorges Dam is the biggest dam in the world and is made up of 1.92 million tons of steel. (Source: Wikipedia)

Beijing Capital International Airport

Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) was the second largest and busiest airport in the world in 2016, just behind the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the U.S. PEK recorded 94,393,454 passengers that flew in and out in 2016, a 5 percent increase from 2015, and is easily the biggest airport in all of Asia.

Beijing Capital International Airport is the biggest airport in Asia, and second in the world. (Source: Top China Travel)

The first phase of the airport cost USD 3.5 billion and was completed in 2008, but in order to handle the growing number of passengers, an expansion project is planned for 2025. The estimated 5-year project will almost double PEK’s capacity and cost an additional USD 13 billion.   

Jiaozhou Bay Bridge

China is also home to the longest sea-crossing bridge in the world. The massive structure stretches over 26.4 miles and connects the cities of Qingdao and Huangdao. The 110ft width accommodates 6 traffic lanes that are supported by 5200 steel pillars.

The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge is held up by 5200 steel pillars. (Source: Feel the Planet)

The bridge first opened in 2011 and took USD 2.3 billion and over 10,000 workers to build. The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge also took 450,000 tons of steel to complete, allowing the bridge to be able to withstand earthquakes up to 8.0 in magnitude, typhoons and the force from a 300,000-ton object.  

Jiuquan Wind Power Base

Not surprisingly, the largest wind farm in the world located in China. Jiuquan Wind Power Base is made up of 7,000 turbines that generate enough electricity to sustain a small country. The plant was approved in 2008, and the government has pledged an additional USD 17.4 billion by 2020 as part of the effort to develop China’s renewable energy industry. For now, only 3.3 percent of all the electricity generated in China comes from wind turbines. With the additional investment, Jiuquan Wind Power Base will be able to generate a massive 20 gigawatts of sustainable electricity.

The Jiuquan Wind Power Base generates enough energy to power a small nation. (Source: The New York Times)

New Century Global Center

What does the biggest building in the world look like? A mini country. Located in Chengdu, Sichuan province, the New Century Global Center combines a shopping mall, water park, hotels, movie theaters, offices, restaurants, ice rink and more into 19 million sq.ft. of space. The structure is made of glass and steel and measures 500 meters long, 400 meters wide and 100 meters high. Designed by architect Zaha Hadid, it even has artificial sun for the perfect weather, 24 hours a day.

The New Century Global Center located in Chengdu is the largest city in the world. (Source: Thousand Wonders)

Port of Shanghai

The world’s biggest ports are mostly located in China, and the biggest one is the Port of Shanghai. In 2012, 744 million tonnes of cargo and 32.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of steel containers passed through the port. The entire area of the port on the Yangtze River covers 3,619km² comprised of 3 main ports: Wusongkou, Waigaoqiao and Yangshan Deep-Water Port. About 25 percent of China’s trade passes through the Port of Shanghai, or 2,000 steel container ships per month.

The Port of Shanghai is the largest port in the world and a quarter of China’s trade passes through it. (Source: Thomson Reuters)

Most recently, the 4th phase of the Yangshan Deep-Water Port was completed, making it the largest automated port in the world. It spans across 2.23 million square meters, and can automatically handle 4 million standard containers per year, or 25 per hour. It was also built to accommodate the heaviest ships in the world.

China is using its steel to build up the country’s infrastructure, and set world records along the way. Besides being impressive in size, the structures are expected to contribute to greater connectivity and economic prosperity throughout China.

Cover photo courtesy of Morgan Stanley.

India

India’s government is incentivizing the use of steel by providing construction grants for regions that need revitalization. This government money is fueling growth and increasing steel consumption in regions across the country. Some predict that India will increase its rank and surpass China as the top consumer of steel in 2018. This is because India has not yet achieved the level of development China has. In China, the economy is shifting. For years, much of China’s economy was made up of companies in the manufacturing industry, but with a growing upper and middle class, many of China’s industries are going from factories to office spaces. Services are expected to increase in China and lead to a decrease in the need for supplies like steel.

Indian steel consumption is rising thanks to new development projects. (Source: Quora)

SEE ALSO: India: A Rising Sun in the Global Renewable Energy Industry

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)

Vietnam and the Philippines have been named two countries to watch in the ASEAN region. Unlike China and Japan, which have relatively more established economies, Vietnam and the Philippines are still in the development phase. Their rapid development is due in part to the growth of e-commerce. As the Vietnamese and Filipino governments race to build stronger countries, they’ll need steel to make improvements in the country’s infrastructure. Many of the cities in the region are outdated and in need of a total remodel. From creating a solid infrastructure to building offices and housing, steel will be in high demand in Vietnam and the Philippines in 2018.

Many ASEAN cities like Ho Chi Minh City pictured above is ripe for growth and development. (Source: Visa2Vietnam)

CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States)

CIS, also known as the Russian Commonwealth, is a confederation of 11 states made up of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. While Russia is the biggest and most powerful member state, the developing states are eager to catch up. CIS countries will undergo development projects including major infrastructure construction. Such state-level projects will require large amounts of steel and CIS countries will have to vamp up its own production as well as meet its needs through imports. As CIS countries develop, their citizens quality of life will likely increase, and they are expected to consume more goods such as cars and appliances made of steel as well.  

CIS member states are ripe for development and steel consumption in 2018. (Source: The Kremlin)

Japan

In the summer of 2020, Japan is set to host the biggest global summer games event. The government is investing significantly in this effort to build new sports facilities and other structures to accommodate the global event. A new stadium itself is said to have a budget of over USD 2 billion, and most of the construction will require steel. Japan already has some of the best infrastructure in the world. But it will need to adapt in order to accommodate the large number of visitors Tokyo will host over the three-week event.

Japan will need to build many sports venues such as its new stadium pictured above for 2020. (Source: CNN)

The United States

In the United States, the steel market is consumer-driven, and steel is a USD 113 billion industry. The U.S. is already the largest importer of steel by a wide margin. But the U.S. demand for steel is expected to increase. Steel is used for construction, infrastructure, energy, production, packaging, appliances and manufacturing. Many cities in the U.S. are expanding and improving their infrastructure. Cities like New York and San Francisco have aging buildings and transportation systems that need to be revitalized. Steel construction is also a way of creating more energy efficiency. As U.S. cities move to become more conservative with their natural resources, steel is one of the ways to reduce energy use. Things like steel reinforcements, steel roofs and other upgrades make buildings more efficient. Many household appliances and automobiles are also made of steel. As U.S. consumers purchase household appliances, cars and buildings, the U.S. demand for steel will continue to grow in 2018.

While 2018 will not likely see 2017 rates of growth, the steel industry will continue to grow as demand for steel-based goods increases. As developing countries become more dependent on modernized infrastructure, housing and conveniences, the steel industry will continue to show growth for the foreseeable future. Even in China, where manufacturing is beginning to slow down, there is a great demand for steel. In developing smart cities, for example, steel and technology work together to create more efficient cities for all citizens. Steel infrastructure will play a major role in the improvement of cities across the globe for years to come.

In major cities around the world, industrial activity is creating visible damages. (Source: International Business Times)

In order to meet this mark, industries need to find sustainable sources of fuel in the near future, or be met with costly penalties. Up to now, the price of non-renewable fuel was too attractive for clean energy to be competitive. However, tighter regulations, major leaps in technology and state-level commitment have birthed a new era of renewable energy.

Energy you can bank on

According to Bloomberg analysts, USD 10.2 trillion will be spent on new power generation by 2040, 72 percent of which will go towards wind and solar photovoltaic plants. By then, the cost of solar electricity will drop 66 percent, meaning by 2021, solar power will be cheaper than energy from coal in China, India, Mexico and the UK. The cost of onshore wind power will decrease by 47 percent by 2040, and offshore wind power by 71 percent thanks to more advanced and cost-effective wind turbines.  

Renewable energy is getting more and more competitive, and companies who don’t make the switch to clean fuel will be left out of the race.

SEE ALSO: How POSCO Sees a Future of Renewable Energy

However, electricity doesn’t fall from trees.

It falls from steel! Tons of steel (literally) are used to extract and convert energy from renewable energy sources.

Wind Energy

Most wind turbines are made of steel, and for an average wind turbine, 140 tons of steel are used. That accounts for 80 percent of all the materials that go into the tower, the nacelle, rotor blades and its supporting facilities. The majority of steel is used to make the tower which serves as the foundation on which the blades turn to generate energy. There are several types of turbine towers, such as steel-concrete hybrid towers, steel truss towers and steel lattice towers, but about 90 percent of all wind turbine towers are made of tubular steel. Also, steel’s non-corrosive properties maximize the lifetime of wind turbines and minimize maintenance costs.

Solar Energy

Solar electricity is one of the most promising types of renewable energy. By as soon as 2030, it can make up 13 percent of the world’s energy, and by 2050, the sun will be the largest source of electricity on earth. And steel will be soaking it all up – the sunlight that is. Steel makes up not only the frame of the solar panels, but the heat exchangers and other related infrastructure. Stainless steel is a great choice for solar panel frames because it is dense, high in strength and has the greatest corrosion-resistance than other light metals.  

SEE ALSO: India: A Rising Sun in the Global Renewable Energy Industry

Geothermal Energy

Mother earth just keeps on giving. There are about 1400 TWh of geothermal energy in the earth’s core that can be harvested by 2050. Geothermal energy gives off extreme heat, so it is vital for the heat exchangers, condensers, pipes, filters, pumps and valves to be corrosion resistant. Otherwise, maintenance costs would be unsustainable and corrosion can contaminate the water as well. That’s why most of the infrastructure related to geothermal energy is made of iron castings, stainless steel and steel alloys.

Tidal Energy

There’s plenty of energy in the sea as well. In the world’s oceans, there are about 1 million megawatts of usable tidal energy. Steel makes up most parts of the underwater turbines including the nacelles, support structures and underlying piles for a sturdy and sustainable power source. As with other renewable energy, increasing the lifetime and decreasing maintenance costs will determine the competitiveness of tidal energy. Thus, stainless steel is the go-to material for corrosion resistance. The infrastructure related to tidal energy extraction is massive in scale and will call for thousands and thousands of pounds of steel to construct.  

Korea is the largest source of tidal energy in the world, with 552.7 GHw of electricity harvested from Siwha Lake every year. It’s also where steelmaker POSCO is located to provide the necessary types and grades of steel for renewable energy production.

POSCO E&C has its own solar, wind, tidal and refuse-derived fuel (RDF) plants, which makes sure even industrial wastes get turned into energy. The company was also the first company in Korea to build a solar power plant in 8 different regions capable of generating 31.2MW of solar electricity.

In order to stay competitive in the market, industries are already using or transitioning towards renewable energy sources to fuel their business activities. As governments around the globe also commit to a greener future, the demand for steel used in renewable energy infrastructure will see a significant boost.

Cover photo courtesy of the National Geographic.

India’s Solar Energy Market

Solar energy is an extremely vital and rapidly developing industry in India. From May 2014 to March 2017, the country quadrupled its solar generation capacity. The average cost of solar electricity is 18 percent below the average price of coal-fired energy, making solar electricity the cheapest form of alternative fuel in India.  

The Indian government is fully supportive of this market, setting a goal of USD 100 billion in investment and 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity for the country by 2022. Solar is particularly important in the rural areas of India where there is limited access to electricity, so the government plans to install solar lanterns, home and street lighting systems and solar cookers.

The world’s largest solar farm is in Tamil Nadu, India. (Source: Alternative Energies)

In November 2017, India became home to the world’s largest solar farm in Kamuthi, Tamil Nadu. The farm covers 2,500 acres with 2.5 million solar modules. India’s solar electricity market has the potential for further expansion, and global suppliers and manufacturers are taking notice.  

POSCO India, a Partner for PV Structure Manufacturers

POSCO is a steel supplier making headway into the Indian solar energy market with its innovative and sustainable products. In September, POSCO India took part in the 2017 Renewable Energy India Expo in Greater Noida.

POSCO’s Booth at the 2017 Renewable Energy India showcased PV structures made of PosMAC steel.

POSCO India Chairman and Managing Director Gee Woong Sung and other POSCO employees showcased POSCO’s solar (PV) structures, constructed from PosMAC steel (POSCO Magnesium Alloy Coating Product). “By the end of this year, we will complete the Indian solution marketing system, which will supply not only steel but also solar PV structures,” said Sung. “In 2018, we will further expand PosMAC sales in India.”

By the end of the event, POSCO signed memorandums of understanding with four major manufacturers of PV structures in India, and will be supplying 49,000 tons of PosMAC with a goal of increasing production to 60,000 tons by 2018.

Solar Electricity Solutions with PosMAC

PosMAC steel has great potential in India because it is ideal for solar panel application. It is ultra corrosion-resistant and cost-effective. Watch the video below to find about the technology behind PosMAC.

A typical PV unit lasts for about three decades, during which a failure of any part would lead to an early demise. PosMAC steel provides weather resistance and is also less expensive than other PV materials like stainless steel.

Despite its varying climate, India is a country with excellent conditions for capturing and using solar energy, with roughly 300 days of sunshine each year. Along with vibrant market conditions, heavy government backing as well as a large consumer base, India’s new and renewable energy industry is set for growth. As solar energy is the cheapest form of alternative fuel, solar PV unit manufacturers will have plenty of business opportunities in India’s growing market.  

Cover photo courtesy of l’Ener Geek.

Consider some of the bigger shifts in the US energy industry:

The Shale Revolution

The “shale revolution” has impacted the entire energy system in the US and worldwide. Although the elements of horizontal drilling and fracking had been known for decades, it was the entrepreneurial genius of men like George Mitchell of Houston who found the way to link these technologies and apply them commercially. It resulted in the US going from a natural gas importer to an exporter of pipeline gas and LNG, an exporter of oil (but not a net exporter), and the collapse of prices for gas, LNG, oil and oil products. It reverberated throughout OPEC countries and other major producers like Russia, as well as in major importing countries. It also enabled oil and gas producers to reduce their footprint overseas and focus on domestic production opportunities.

The “shale revolution” has impacted the entire energy system in the US and worldwide. (Source: Bloomberg Business)

Coal Industry

Coal, which had been king in the middle of the last century, has been declining rapidly, losing market share to often cheaper natural gas. The improbable opportunity to ship coal to Germany provided some relief. The Trump Administration may have won the election by making promises to US coal-producing states, but having an impact on this declining industry will take more than rhetoric. While much attention has been given to anti-coal regulation it has been market forces that caused electricity producers to shift from coal to natural gas.

Nuclear Energy

Nuclear energy faces the twin threats of obsolescence, as well as competitiveness with natural gas. The regulatory system also contributes to its decline. Many of the roughly 100 nuclear facilities operating in the US were built about 40 years ago, which means that they were due for major upgrades or retirement now. Only a few new plants are under construction, and they are massively over budget and have been built only in states with regulatory systems in which consumers must bear the cost of such overruns. Conventional wisdom had been that these plants would be upgraded and run for decades more. Instead several have announced shutdowns, and more are expected to follow. Nuclear had been considered a low-cost base fuel, but has trouble with competing with natural gas at current prices.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry (Source: Fortune)

Energy policy in the Trump Administration, led by Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, is trying to protect both coal and nuclear because of their important role as baseload producers, in contrast to wind and solar that cannot provide consistent power to the system. But it seems doubtful that regulatory mechanisms will overcome market forces.

Falling Prices

The collapse of oil and natural gas prices led to the elimination of hundreds of thousands of jobs worldwide and slashing capital budgets, especially for higher-cost production such as deepwater, the Arctic, and other frontier environments. The shale play was led by small independent companies, but many of them took on too much debt, spent too much money to buy leases from mineral-rights owners, and drilled but often didn’t complete wells because of a focus on future growth. A number of them have failed financially or sold off properties. Even giants like BHP Billiton, which entered the US shale market with a USD 20 billion investment, wrote off USD 13 billion within six years. Although there continues to be substantial financing available from Wall Street, the focus has shifted from growth to cash flow. This has important implications.

But cheaper natural gas has had a positive impact in four areas:

Natural Gas and Oil Pipeline Projects

Natural gas and oil pipelines (midstream) have had a resurgence of activity, both proposed and built. To be sure there have been and continue to be strong challenges by environmental organizations. However, many pipelines have gone forward and others have been suspended because of economics rather than protest.

The U.S. went from an importer to an exporter of liquified natural gas. (Source: The Globe and Mail)

New LNG Facilities

LNG exports are a new phenomenon for the US. For years the US faced a deficit in natural gas, leading to proposals for nearly 40 LNG import facilities. Fortunately, most of them were not built, and those that were have largely become LNG export terminals. These required massive capital investment across the value chain. Greenfield facilities are now planned or under construction in multiple locations.

Expansion of Pipelines to Mexico

Pipeline gas to Mexico is little noticed by the public but the expansion has been dramatic. Despite the liberalization of the energy system in Mexico the demand for natural gas for industry and consumers, especially in Northern Mexico, is likely to continue. There is even talk about an LNG export terminal in Mexico’s Baja peninsula, to be supplied from US sources. The shadow over this is anti-immigrant policies of the Trump Administration and uncertainties related to the renegotiation of the NAFTA trade agreement. There is concern that the upcoming Presidential election in Mexico will result in an anti-US tide that might impact progress on the energy value chain.

Resurgence of the Petrochemical Industry

The petrochemical industry in the US has had a resurgence with low-cost natural gas. Approximately USD 100 billion of investment is currently underway or recently completed in the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast.

What we see here are currents moving in very different directions in the extended and complex energy supply chain in the US and internationally.

What does this mean for the steel industry?

Pipelines

Steel is literally the backbone of the US oil and gas system. Hundreds of thousands of miles of pipelines form a complex web across the continental US, in Alaska, to Canada and Mexico, and out to the Gulf of Mexico. Though mostly unseen, these pipelines enable the production and consumption of resources reliably and at affordable prices. New activity will be limited in the Gulf of Mexico for some time, with most of it focused on completing projects that were already underway. There may be some new activity in Mexican waters in the Gulf as the political opening there results in development, much of it in proximity to known fields on the US side of the border.

For example the Keystone XL pipeline, planned to bring more heavy oil from Canada, has been contentious for years for a variety of reasons including the higher carbon content of the crude and the route of the pipeline. Opponents have recently adopted a new strategy suggesting that the project is no longer economic – this is a way to undermine political support. TransCanada, the developer, insists that it is viable and on track. However, in Canada itself, plans have been abandoned for a massive oil pipeline to connect the producing area of Alberta in Western Canada to the east coast.

The Keystone XL pipeline was planned to bring heavy oil from Canada to the U.S. (Source: Horizon Supply Company)

Platforms

The offshore industry has been a major user of steel, both for platforms often built in Korea, and also for the related supply chain. Capital investment has been hardest hit in this area, and may not resume for 3-5 years until global demand increases and production growth slows.

LNG Facilities

LNG is a relative bright spot. The value chain includes the production of gas, transportation to newly-built liquefaction facilities, LNG ships, and import/regasification facilities. Lithuania recently built an LNG import facility to promote its independence from Russia. In other cases, majors like Shell, are now discussing building infrastructure in countries as diverse as South Africa and Vietnam so that they can become gas users. Japan shut its nuclear facilities after Fukushima and has been slow to reopen them. It lacks a domestic pipeline system because of the mountainous terrain and has relied on two dozen LNG import terminals. Will that create demand for new facilities?

An interesting twist is that Kinder Morgan, a leading pipeline company, has defined itself more broadly as an energy transfer organization. It had been frustrated in trying to build a natural gas pipeline from the Marcellus field in Pennsylvania to Boston, where natural gas prices are often the highest in the US. So they have decided to build LNG vessels to transport gas from terminals in Louisiana and Texas to Boston, despite restrictions imposed by the protective Jones Act that requires US vessels and crews for transport between US destinations.

LNG vessels transport LNG between terminals. (Source: World Maritime News)

Shale Gas Wells

The US shale play has been compared to a manufacturing process. Traditional development wells were expected to produce gas for years and oil sometimes for decades. But the fracking operations have a rapid decline curve which means that companies are constantly drilling new horizontal wells and are doing so for greater lengths. More than a dozen horizontal wells may stretch from a single pad. Budgets are now focused on cash flow, which means spending less on acquiring leases and more to produce oil – this results in more spending on steel.

Crude Oil Vessels

The US is now exporting about 2 million barrels of oil per day. US producers had been largely banned from exporting oil until two years ago when outdated legislation was changed. Increased domestic production and the ability to export dramatically changed shipping patterns. Nigeria had been a major exporter to the US but has forfeited the market. Saudi Aramco bought out Shell’s interest in the Motiva joint venture and took complete control of the Port Arthur refinery, the largest in the US. Many observers believe this was to assure a market for Saudi crude. Thus increased trade in oil and shifting markets may create demand for new vessels.

Petrochemical Facilities

Finally, low-cost natural gas has been a constant in the US. In addition to the new construction of petrochemical facilities along the US Gulf Coast mentioned previously, it adds the potential for a reindustrialization of the US economy that was unimaginable just a few years ago. This can cut across many industries for which power costs are a major factor. This may seem inconsistent with e-commerce, but the two may go together as mega distribution centers are built so that a growing fleet of trucks can provide same-day delivery to consumers.

There are many paradoxes in the American energy system and supply chain. For the steel industry, the key is to determine where those opportunities are located.

Bill Arnold is a professor in the practice of energy management at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business. Previously, Arnold was Royal Dutch Shell’s Washington director of international government relations and senior counsel for the Middle East, Latin America and North Africa for 16 years.

Cover photo courtesy of Petroleum Economist.

POSCO joins its partners in the energy industry at the Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston in May. The exhibition booth is prepared in collaboration with the high-profile offshore tool and material manufacturers in the energy industry.

Just as it did the previous year, POSCO presented a booth together with the offshore tool and material manufacturers in the energy industry. POSCO also consulted with various companies to expand new markets for its World Premium Products, including the high manganese steel for slurry pipes, steel for LNG terminals, and steel bars for tools and materials for energy mining.

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[Innovative Steel Technology] Amplification of Green and Economical Technology through Endless Research & Development 

FINEX Process
FINEX is an innovative steelmaking process that has altered the conventional paradigm of ‘producing molten metal in a blast furnace’. It is designed to produce molten metal using cheap, powder-type iron ore and bituminous coal and as a result, saves much in investment and fuel processing costs while reducing the amount of polluting substances produced. Commercialized for the world’s first by POSCO, FINEX plant with the annual production capacity of 1.5 million tons, has been running successfully since its launch in 2007. Moreover, 2 million tons of additional facilities has been on-stream in recent years.

Hydrogen-based Steelmaking Process
‘Hydrogen-based steelmaking process’, using Hydrogen (H) instead of coal as a reducing agent, is also at the research stage. Generally, iron ore exists in a state which iron and oxygen are in combination (Fe₂O₃, Fe₃O₄). If coal is used as the reducing agent for separating oxygen, carbon dioxide emission is inevitable in the process. However, if hydrogen replaces carbon as the reducing agent, the reaction with oxygen will result in water and thereby process steel without any CO₂ emission. However, technical and financial issues on securing a large amount of hydrogen follow in accordance. As a possible solution, nuclear energy is currently being considered.

Thin Slab Casting
The steel industry is heading to the direction of environmental-friendly business by revamping the steel process as a direct and consecutive procedure. The new eco-friendly steel process that remarkably reduces energy consumption, is being developed. The most representative case is the ‘thin slab casting’ which manufacturers ‘slab’, the intermediary material, in the thinnest possible form in order to minimize the additional heating temperature.

Compact Endless cast-rolling Mill (CEM) Process
Lately, a new method for creating hot-rolled steel sheet that does not reheat the thin slab has been under development. This innovative technology developed by POSCO is called CEM (Compact Endless cast-rolling Mill) process. The CEM process consecutively produces thin slabs and immediately connects them with the hot-rolling process as a means to create hot-rolled steel products. Through this process, energy consumption of the previous casting process will be saved up to 50%.

[Innovative Steel Products] Leading the Automobile and Energy Industry with High-Quality Materials

Automobile
The automobile industry, which is large in steel consumption, is reaching the pinnacle of eco-friendly vehicle development. Engine efficiency should be enhanced by lightening the vehicle weight in order to improve fuel efficiency. That is, automotive flat products, which occupy most of the vehicle weight, should be lightened. The best method for this issue of the current state is the Hot Press Forming (HPF).

However, there has been a development of new steel material that has sufficient strength and processability without being processed. The best-known example is PosM Steel which was developed by POSCO in 2010. Compared to regular automotive flat products, the PosM Steel sheet, a mixture of iron, manganese, and aluminum, is 3-4 times stronger and about 30% lighter. As a matter of fact, POSCO reduced 130kg from an auto body of ‘EOLAB’ concept car which was a recent cooperation with Renault. The weight reduction enabled the car to run at 100km per liter of fuel. In response to the commercialization of electric automobiles, the innovative electrical steel of high electrical efficiency is under development while super metal with better strength is also in the research process.

Energy
Innovative steel products are being expanded in the energy sector as well. Due to the generalization of deep-sea oil field development, a competition for exploitation of unconventional resource such as shale gas is now at its heights. Accordingly, FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) for energy development, is expanding in its demand. Used in the offshore plant, the steel material for energy is known for its high quality and safety standards because it must endure the extreme condition of deep sea and the Polar Regions.

In order to meet the strict standards, an alloy steel that holds strength and impact toughness even in an extremely low temperature is under development. Notably, the newly invented high manganese steel is an advanced product of 25% increase in manganese content. The increment in content improved the steel’s low thermal expansion, machinability, and processability. Thus, the steel can dramatically increase the storage capacity of an LNG tank.

Manufactured at a lower price through the environmentally friendly production process, the innovative steel products will solidify its status as key materials within the steel industry. The advancement in the automobile, shipbuilding and energy industry would have been impossible if the innovation of the steel material did not occur. The joint-growth paradigm which is brought by the cooperation between the demanded industry and the steel industry will continue to go on even in the future.