The Matarbari power plant construction project includes the construction of a 1200㎿ (600㎿ x 2ea) coal-fired thermal power plant on Matarbari Island, Chittagong, approximately 280km southeast of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Site improvement and port construction are also part of the project, expected to last 7 years. POSCO E&C invested a total of USD 4.5 billion in this project which is the largest coal-fired thermal power generation project in Southwest Asia. POSCO E&C is in charge of civil engineering for the power plant worth USD 840 million and the construction of the coal processing facilities and subsidiary facilities.

The Bangladeshi government and the Japanese government have been working together on this project as a means to speed up the low electrification rate of Bangladesh. The Sumitomo Corporation Consortium, which has been cooperating with POSCO E&C, won the contract last month from the project owner Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited.

POSCO E&C also recently won the contract to build the Yangon Waterworks Improvement Project in Myanmar worth USD 53 million. POSCO E&C selected Myanmar as one of its 5 strategic countries, and built the Yangon Hotel, the tallest landmark building in Myanmar. It is now accelerating its efforts to make inroads into the Myanmar construction market. Both projects are funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

POSCO E&C President Chan-geon Han said, “We won this contract thanks to our world-class EPC technology and expertise, which has been recognized in the Central and South American energy plant markets. This contract is all the more meaningful because we won it at a time of declining overseas business due to a dip in international oil prices.”

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However, the Amazon is under constant human threat as deforestation continues to increase with the expansion of industry and agriculture, as well as the growing number of natural disasters, including the drought that plagued San Paulo last year. But one team of scientists and researchers is going to great lengths (and heights) to better understand climate change and the effect it is having on our world.

Into the Jungle

To better comprehend the key roles the Amazon plays on a local, regional and global scale, a German-Brazilian joint project was initiated in 2008. It was coordinated by the Max Planck Institute, the Brazilian National Institute of Amazonian Research and Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA).

The central objective of the project was to build the Amazonian Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO), a scientific research tower, in the heart of Brazil’s Amazonian rainforest, hundreds of kilometers away from the closest city—and subsequently any anthropogenic influence.

Now the tallest structure in South America, the mast aims to collect data from a 700-kilometer radius for four kinds of research, including chemical changes in the atmosphere, the formation of clouds, the types and quality of pollen and the effect of global warming on photosynthesis by plants. By monitoring such changes, researchers are hoping to see how climate change is contributing to extreme weather events over the next 30 years.

Steel—A Tower of Strength

But constructing a giant tower in the middle of the isolated and often unforgiving Amazon was no easy feat.

It was essential that the material selected for the tower’s construction would be able to withstand the tropical conditions of the rainforest. Steel’s strength, combined with its unique versatility and lightweight properties, best met engineers’ requirements for the structure.

As a result, approximately 120 tons of steel were used to build the 142-ton, 325-meter-tall tower.

The steel structure of the ATTO tower was transported 4,000 kilometers by road and river from a steel plant in southern Brazil, and up a dirt track into the depths of the forest. This track, which was created specifically for the project, allowed for the successful transport of some 15,000 tower components to the construction site.

At the site, each of the various tower elements had to be lifted and assembled using 24,000 screws and bolts, while 26 kilometers of steel cable was needed to safely anchor the tower to the rainforest ground. Overall, the ATTO required the manpower of 30 workers and took about four months to complete.

Getting to the top of the 108-story-high structure takes an hour and a half; scaling it requires scientists and workers to lock carabiners onto a steel cable which runs continuously along the stairs of the superstructure like a handrail. At platforms on the way up, researchers can access the measurement equipment that collects data.

The tower was officially inaugurated last August and in the coming months, it will be equipped with additional instruments before the actual measurements will start by the end of this year.

Better Understanding for a Brighter Future

The ATTO complements the Zotino Tall Tower Observation Facility (ZOTTO) in Siberia, Russia, which was also built in partnership with the Max Planck Institute in 2006. The cable-stayed steel truss mast that boasts inlet pipes made of stainless steel has been used for greenhouse gas and aerosol monitoring.

It’s the hope of scientists that steel towers like ATTO and ZOTTO will provide a clearer understanding of the role played by various ecosystems most crucially in the context of climate change. This, in turn, could transform the remote, untouched corners of the world into areas of global importance unlike ever before.

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Brazil’s sugar cane straw market is bigger than ever, allowing for the expansion of the renewable energy sector, as well as the emergence of new biofuels.

To satisfy the growing demand for cane straw, equipment manufacturer Fácil System recently developed specialized, wear-resistant steel knives for its raw material shredding mill, making the sugar cane shredding process more efficient and profitable than ever.

Sugar cane straw—the tops and leaves of the sugar cane stalk—has become an important crop for nations like Brazil. The energy-rich straw has become increasingly used to generate electricity and create ethanol. Because it is a clean, affordable and low-carbon biofuel, sugar cane ethanol has emerged as a leading renewable fuel throughout the South American country.

Nevertheless, the processing of sugar cane straw involves an excessive amount of shredding and milling, and the crop’s strong fibers have a reputation for quickly wearing out processing machines. One company, however, is changing the game by utilizing high-strength steel.

A Cutting-Edge Solution

Since 1986, the Brazilian company Fácil System has made equipment and components for drying, crushing, grinding, screening and material handling systems for mining, quarry, ceramics, cement, fertilizer and other industries using creative and innovative techniques. Being located in the sugar plantation region of Araraquara, however, the company is especially familiar with sugar cane straw.

Spotting the added value of sugar cane straw, which had previously been discarded during harvesting, CEO Laércio Ribeiro, began to develop a new machine for shredding the material, envisioning a new market.

After an extensive review of potential materials for the machine, it was determined that only high-strength steel could meet the company’s performance target. Besides its wear properties, high-strength steel provides the possibility of cutting sheet metal via hot methods or water jets without changing the steel’s internal structural composition.

The mill rotor on the new machines, which shreds the sugar cane straw, consists of a set of shredding knives bolted in a spiral pattern to the equipment support at the axles. The knife blades, as well as the machine’s outlet grate, were developed with wear-resistant, high-strength steel.

The end result was a new sugar cane straw shredder for sugar cane waste, which could be used in boilers for energy recovery, like the cogeneration of heat and electricity.

The innovative use of wear-resistant steel extends the service life of the knives, lowers maintenance costs and delivers energy savings. In fact, the new shredders are roughly 40 percent more energy efficient than previous solutions.

Furthermore, the knives can stand up to 120 days of use—exactly half of the typical sugar cane harvest. For comparison, blades made from softer materials only last 48 hours in the process. Compared to conventional hammer shredders, these high-strength steel knife shredders perform significantly better, all the while ensuring the expansion of the renewable energy market.

Because of high-strength steel, Brazil is in an even better position to offer its expertise in sugar cane ethanol to nations worldwide, especially developing countries that could produce biofuels but still depend on oil.

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Jonathan, the Travel Bug Meets Korea and POSCO

Hello, Jonathan. Could you briefly introduce yourself?
Hello, I’m Jonathan, and I’m originally from the US. Actually, it’s almost by chance that I ended up living in Korea. Wanting to travel and see more of Asia, I first came here as an English teacher. My plan was to stay only for one year, but then one turned into two, then three… While studying in graduate school here in Seoul, POSCO’s Global Internship Program came to my attention, and I decided to take the program for three weeks. Upon graduation, this experience turned into a job opportunity, and it has now been more than eight months since I joined the company.

You are working in the API Steel Sales Group. Can you tell us a little about what you do?
Primarily, I focus on supporting various sales activities in the API Steel Sales Group. This includes gathering market intelligence, responding to price inquiries and keeping an eye on the production status of bids we have won. Sometimes, there are surprises as well. Last week, for example, an inspector from one of our biggest Latin American end users made a surprise visit to Korea. She spoke no Korean and only minimal English, while the interpreter who joined us didn’t know very much about our specific product or the technical vocabulary related to steel. In the end, our communication was a mix of Spanish, English and Korean, with good doses of laughter and gestures to fill in the blanks. Personal contact like that makes the everyday routine of sales work worthwhile.

Do you communicate in English at the office?
I use both English and Korean. There are no major issues affecting communication between me and my group members. They speak English fairly well, and I put a little extra effort into listening since I know that English isn’t their mother tongue; same goes for when I speak in Korean.

There must be a corporate culture gap between the U.S. and Korea. When do you feel the difference the most?
First of all, I had never worked in a big company before joining POSCO, so I don’t really know if the differences I see are due to different culture or simply company size. In my previous job, if there was a problem, I could talk directly to the president. I would just knock on his door and go right in to talk to him. At POSCO, this is unconceivable – things have to travel up through the hierarchy; appointments have to be scheduled; official reports written up – it is all fairly bureaucratic. That seems to be the biggest difference that I see.

What do you want to achieve at POSCO?
I’m currently focusing on learning about industry and POSCO’s business practices. Although it is not certain for now, I hope I can be transferred to POSCO’s U.S. office. POSCO America isn’t very large yet, but building upon the experiences I have here, I would like to expand the company’s US operations.

Affairs related to Central and South America are in hands of Sergio from Colombia

Hi, Sergio. Can you briefly introduce yourself?
Hello. I’m Sergio Alejandro Rub from Colombia. I came to Korea in 2011 and joined POSCO in January this year. I took POSCO Global Internship Program for about two weeks as well. After that, I started working full-time at International Affairs Department.

How did you know about POSCO, and how did you come to apply?
I was living in China in 2009. Back then, one of my closest friend’s father was working at POSCO. Well, that makes him my senior at work now. Anyway, that was my first encounter with the company. When I was doing a postgraduate degree, I was told about POSCO Global Internship Program, so I applied for it.

What do people in Colombia think of Korean companies?
Five years ago, no one really knew about Korean companies. Some people even thought that the major Korean conglomerates were Japanese companies! But now, it has changed a lot and there is an increasing amount of interests in the companies from Korea.

You are working in the International Affairs Dept. What is your daily routine?
I mainly deal with collaboration development in Central and South American nations. My task is to find possibilities for cooperation between POSCO and other companies and governments. My team and I analyze what measures it takes to develop new products, such as which company to work with or how to maintain relationship with governments. Pioneering new market frontier is also one of the International Affairs Department’s operations.

Is there any problem communicating with your colleagues?
Unlike Jonathan, I only use Korean to communicate. And since I only use Korean with native Korean speakers, I gain an advantage in improving my Korean. For any other purposes, I speak both Spanish and English.

Are there difference between working in Colombia and Korea?
Korean companies have different positions like assistant, manager and senior manager, right? In Colombia, there are no titles like that, so everyone’s equal. Also, Koreans go for drinks during weekdays, but Colombians hardly drink before weekends because we think it affects our work. For the past two years, I think I drank at least two or three days during a week.
We have something in common though. Koreans and Colombians both have a craze for soccer. Well, actually Koreans drink beers and eat chickens while watching a soccer match, but Colombians don’t drink much alcohol unless there’s a match for a Colombian national team.

What do you want to achieve at POSCO?
It’s only been three months since I started working at POSCO. So I want to learn more about the company. It would also be fantastic to get to know about the International Affairs Department more in depth.

Working at POSCO HQ as Foreigners

There are 17 foreign nationals working at POSCO at the moment. POSCO’s recruitment process for foreign nationals is undertaken as below. Recruitments are mission-based: in other words, whenever POSCO’s operations require appropriate talents from overseas. Details, such as period of employment, can vary depending on circumstances.

During the interviews with Jonathan and Sergio, we learned a lot from the two POSCO members. Although they are working away from home, Jonathan and Sergio never lost smiles on their faces and were working really hard. Didn’t you get the same impression? ‘Hello, POSCO’ will continue speaking with the POSCO members with different nationalities, so stay tuned!