POSCO restarts furnace after upgrade with smart system

POSCO, the world’s seventh-largest steelmaker, on Thursday restarted a blast furnace in South Korea following a revamp applying a smart system based on deep learning technology with a $382 million investment to improve its productivity and cut costs.

The steelmaking unit of South Korea’s No. 5 conglomerate POSCO Holdings Inc. said it held a blowing-in ceremony for the No. 4 blast furnace at its Pohang Steel Works in the southern port city of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. Blowing in is the first step to operating a furnace.

“We want the No. 4 furnace to support POSCO’s growth into a company for 100 years by securing productivity, cost and product competitiveness,” said POSCO Holdings Chairman Chang In-hwa at the ceremony.

Chang, who took office in March, vowed to concentrate on improving POSCO’s steel business dented by Chinese and Japanese rivals.

SMART FURNACE SYSTEM WITH NEW EQUIPMENT

POSCO said it applied a smart system, which allows the blast furnace to predict operating results and regulate itself through deep learning, resulting in better productivity and lower costs.

The leading South Korean steelmaker replaced the aged equipment of the furnace with an internal volume of 5,600 cubic meters while enhancing its efficiency by improving its cooling method.

POSCO spent 530 billion won ($382.2 million) on the 16-month overhaul of the facility using heat to convert iron oxide into liquid iron.

The furnace, which has produced 150 million tons of molten iron since 1981, went through major renovations in 1994 and 2010.

Steelmakers usually operate furnaces in one cycle for 15 years and upgrade the facilities for the next cycle.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited his article.