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| A POSCO Chemical worker checks on the progress of cathode production at the company's Gwangyang plant, Tuesday. / Courtesy of POSCO Chemical |
By Kim Hyun-bin
GWANGYANG, South Jeolla Province ― Close to a three-hour ride south from Seoul on the KTX high-speed train leads to Gwangyang, a small city in South Jeolla Province with a population of just over 150,000. The city might be small in size, but it is the mecca of the secondary battery material industry. The city is home to POSCO Chemical's cathode production plant.
The plant was unveiled for the first time to local reporters April 13, showcasing the company's hope of becoming a top-tier secondary battery materials production facility and tap into the burgeoning global electric vehicle (EV) market in the coming years.
Most of the cathode production plant is automated and was built using POSCO's homegrown technology. A computer ensures quality management in real-time and maximizes efficiency throughout the facility.
"Compared to the Gumi plant, the Gwangyang plant maximizes automation. Most production cycles, except injecting raw materials, are done without human intervention," Lee Sang-young, plant leader at POSCO Chemical's Gwangyang factory, said. "Due to automation, there are only 80 workers at the plant, which is a third of that of the Gumi plant."
The factory is capable of producing 30,000 tons of cathodes a year, and two more are under construction scheduled to be completed by 2023. Once finished, the total production volume will triple to 90 thousand tons annually, enough to produce 1 million 60kwh EV batteries.
With the use of technology, such as a pneumatic transport system and AGV unmanned transport crane, transport time has been reduced from stocking raw materials, to production and shipping.
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| An employee checks on the pneumatic transport system, Tuesday, that can send cathode samples anywhere within the factory within 30 seconds. Courtesy of POSCO Chemical |
The air pipeline connects the production facilities to the quality analysis lab that sends the samples from the production site, and carries capsules through the pipes at speeds of 18 kilometers per hour.
The plant is large enough to house 20 football fields but a sample can be sent across the facility within 30 seconds.
"The pneumatic transport technology is the first of its kind at a cathode plant that has cut time and is an attention grabber for visitors and clients," Lee said. "In the past, a worker had to deliver the samples in person, which took time and left open the chance the materials could be exposed during transport."
Through continuous data analysis, the Gwangyang plant's key facilities have made significant strides in production capability over the years with efficiency being raised 91 percent since 2018.
"Our clients are most interested in the automation and quality management system at our plant," a POSCO Chemical official said. "POSCO Chemical has been strict on quality management, which directly affects the safety of batteries and production costs, which has been highly praised by our clients."
POSCO Chemical is searching for an optimal location to establish an overseas plant in both Europe and the United States and seeks to apply the latest technologies from the Gwangyang plant there.
"We are reviewing suitable locations to build our overseas plant in Europe and the United States. We are open to different options at the moment," Chung Dae-hun, head of the energy material business unit at POSCO Chemical said.
Currently, LG Energy Solution (LGES) and General Motors (GM) are major partners and POSCO is considering building overseas plants in Europe and the U.S. as the LG affiliate already operates a plant in Poland, while GM's headquarters is in Michigan as is LGES' lithium-ion battery factory.
LGES is currently building a new factory in the U.S. state of Ohio with an aim of completion in 2022. LGES said it will partner with GM to construct a second $2.3 billion EV battery plant in the U.S. state of Tennessee, another location where POSCO could potentially build its overseas plant.
POSCO Chemical also seeks to increase its production capacity from 40,000 tons of cathode a year to 270,000 tons by 2025 and 400,000 tons by 2030. The company aims to produce at least 160,000 tons from local production and 110,000 tons from overseas plants by 2025.
The vast investments come as the EV industry has been changing rapidly with growing global demand, while carmakers have been moving to produce batteries themselves. All of those developments signify increased demand for cathodes. The company believes that the next two to three years will be a "golden time" to secure the lead in the secondary battery materials sector.
"The changes in the market will become an opportunity to expand our clients and swiftly increase our production capacity. We plan to establish close partnerships with global carmakers as well through our supply chain bases," Chung said. "We will adapt to the increase in demand and speed up our investment plans to 2025 to enhance our mass production capability and to become a top player in the global market."
According to a UBS report, the global EV market was 3 million vehicles in 2020, but is expected to rise to 35.5 million by 2030, an increase of 28 percent annually. In addition, major automakers, such as Tesla and Volkswagen, have announced plans to produce EV batteries, which POSCO Chemical believes will be an opportunity to expand its client base from EV battery companies to auto manufacturers.
