POSCO E&C Mobilizes Full EPC Capabilities to Drive Group's Secondary Battery Business Success

POSCO E&C is mobilizing its design, procurement, and construction (EPC) capabilities to the fullest for the group's new growth engine, the secondary battery materials business.

Overview of Argentina Lithium Extraction 'Demo Plant' / Photo by POSCO E&C

According to POSCO E&C on the 27th, POSCO Group is building the world's only secondary battery materials supply value chain. By 2030, it aims to secure lithium production capacity of 423,000 tons and high-purity nickel of 240,000 tons, produce 70,000 tons of lithium, nickel, and cobalt through recycling, and establish a production system of 1 million tons of cathode materials and 370,000 tons of anode materials.

In this, POSCO E&C is playing the role of an EPC player. It is responsible for the entire EPC business, from design, equipment supply, and construction of raw material input, production processes, product automated warehouses, and auxiliary facilities.

Looking at major achievements, POSCO E&C expanded the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th phases of the Gwangyang cathode material plant, the world's largest cathode material production plant capable of producing about 90,000 tons annually. In the Sejong City Advanced Industrial Complex, it built the 2-1 phase plant producing 20,000 tons of (natural) anode materials annually. Currently, the 2-2 phase construction, producing 25,000 tons, is underway.

Also, to secure lithium raw materials, which are directly linked to the competitiveness of the secondary battery materials business, POSCO E&C successfully completed the 'demo plant' for lithium mining and refining in Argentina in August 2020, the first domestic company to do so. Currently, it is constructing the upper process of the 1st phase 'commercial plant' producing 25,000 tons of lithium phosphate annually in Salta Province, Argentina, at an altitude of 4,000 meters, and the lower process plant near the Guemes Industrial Complex in Salta Province, converting lithium phosphate to lithium hydroxide.

A POSCO E&C official said, "This year, we plan to establish a lithium commercial process design model and localize lithium unit equipment. By 2025, we will expand next-generation technology development related to secondary batteries, including developing new lithium extraction methods and establishing standard models for new business products (raw materials and materials), thereby strengthening investment competitiveness."

Efforts to nurture talent also stand out. POSCO E&C prioritizes selecting employees with rich technology and experience in similar product fields and operates re- and up-skilling programs for acquiring new technologies and roles in future growth areas such as secondary batteries and hydrogen based on current job experience. In July, it signed a talent development MOU with Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and the Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST) to foster specialized secondary battery technical personnel.

Furthermore, to effectively carry out overseas construction projects, POSCO E&C has been operating a construction skilled workforce training program since 2018 and signed a 'Construction Skilled Workforce Training MOU' with Argentina in April, leading the group's creation of 'Real Value.'

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.