A lighting-up ceremony was held at the Gwangyang Steel Works

A lighting-up ceremony was held at the Gwangyang Steel Works to announce the operation of the 4th blast furnace at the steel works on June 10.

POSCO Group Chairman Choi Jeong-woo said, "Like the blast furnace, the symbol of steel works, I hope that POSCO will further solidify its status as the world's best and become a strong support for the POSCO Group."

POSCO Group Chairman Choi Jeong-woo (far right) and POSCO executives pose for the camera at a lighting-up ceremony at the Gwangyang Steel Works on June 10.
POSCO Group Chairman Choi Jeong-woo (far right) and POSCO executives pose for the camera at a lighting-up ceremony at the Gwangyang Steel Works on June 10.

It will reduce fine dust emission by up to 90% through investment in environmental facilities and enhance eco-friendly manufacturing competitiveness

It is building a smart blast furnace system and combining artificial intelligence and worker know-how to reduce annual and raw material costs and strengthen operation stability

POSCO Gwangyang Steel Works 4 blast furnace successfully completed the second repair and started its third life.

POSCO Chairman Choi, Vice Chairman Kim Hak-dong, E&C President Han Seong-hee, Chemical President Min Kyung-joon, and President Jeong Duk-gyun attended the ceremony for the burning of the Gwangyang Steel Works 4 blast furnace in the presence of representatives and executives of POSCO Group.

Chairman Choi said, “Today is the day when the Gwangyang No. 4 Blast Furnace was reborn as a luxury blast furnace with the world’s best competitiveness thanks to your precious sweat and effort, and it is also the 100th day since POSCO Group switched to a holding company system.”

Gwangyang Blast Furnace No. 4 was completed in September 1992 with an internal volume of 3,800 m3 and began its first operation.

Although the contents are the same, this second repair was conducted with a focus on △ realization of safe sites through remodeling of old facilities, △ investment in environmental facilities to reduce air pollutants, and △ improvement of cost competitiveness through establishment of a smart blast furnace system.

In particular, through investment in environmental facilities such as the new application of flue gas clean breather and the addition of dust collection facilities in piping facilities, we have reduced fine dust emissions by up to 90% compared to existing blast furnaces, thereby enhancing eco-friendly manufacturing competitiveness. By combining artificial intelligence for automatic control and the know-how of experienced field workers for many years, it has reduced annual and raw material costs and further strengthened operation stability.

This project, which was carried out for a total of 1 year and 6 months, invested a total of 370.3 billion won, and about 270,000 manpower participated in the construction, contributing to the economic revitalization of the local community stagnated by Corona 19.

In the future, POSCO plans to play a leading role in reducing carbon emissions by reducing coal consumption by optimizing the operation of the 4th blast furnace.

Meanwhile, POSCO, which is moving toward achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 with the goal of sustainable green growth, plans to invest KRW 20 trillion by 2026 to convert to a low-carbon, eco-friendly production system such as improving the efficiency of the steelmaking process and investing in eco-friendly facilities. We plan to continue to grow as a representative company of eco-friendly future materials by further solidifying it.

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