POSCO inks MOU with SK Energy to form a partnership in the coal chemistry industry

02-Nov-10

POSCO has signed an MOU with SK Energy to form a partnership in the coal chemistry industry at POSCO Center. The coal chemical business is a step above petrochemicals, in which chemical products are made using the relatively more economical and abundant coal by-products. With this MOU, POSCO and SK Energy will review the feasibility of business developing and commercializing value added chemical products made from by-products of steel and petroleum based products. The two companies have signed the MOU for reviewing the feasibility of joint coal chemical business. The MOU itself deals mostly with figuring out the feasibility of producing and commercializing the high value added chemical products derived from industrial by-products of each of the two companies. The main ingredients are crude light oil and coal tar, the by-products from POSCO’s steel production processes and SK Energy’s petroleum by-products. Using the technology of the two companies, the first phase will involve the production of basic petrochemical products, while the second phase will be for producing high functionality engineering plastics and other high value-added products.