- P&O Chemical, a joint venture of OCI and POSCO Chemical, broke ground for a high-softening-point pitch plant in Gongju, Chungnam, on September 21
- 15,000 tons/year supplied to global anode material manufacturers, starting with POSCO Chemical
- The production of high-softening-point pitch, an essential material for the anode for rechargeable batteries, localized by OCI's technological breakthrough
- Advancing the cutting-edge materials sector for semiconductors and rechargeable batteries
According to the company’s website news release on September 21, 2022, P&O Chemical, a joint venture of OCI (President & CEO Teak Joung Kim) and POSCO Chemical (President Kyung-jun Min), announced that it held a groundbreaking ceremony to build a plant for high-softening-point pitch, the anode material for rechargeable batteries, on September 21 in Gongju, Chungcheongnam-do.
OCI's Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Yoo Sin Kim, POSCO Chemical's Planning & Support Group Head Ju-hyun Kim, P&O Chemical's Representative Director Jong Kook Kim, Gongju City Mayor Won-cheol Choi and other city officials attended the ceremony.
P&O Chemical is a joint venture, established in 2020, split 49-51 between OCI and POSCO Chemical to strengthen competitiveness in the high-value-added electronic materials sector.
The pitch plant will be built on a 32,500 ㎡ site in the Tancheon Industrial Complex in Gongju City, Chungcheongnam-do, with an investment of KRW 96.3 billion. Its construction is scheduled to start in September 2022 and end in July 2023. Upon the plant's completion, P&O Chemical will produce 15,000mt/y of high-softening-point pitch a year. P&O Chemical plans to expand supply to global anode manufacturers, including POSCO Chemical.
The pitch with a high softening point is used to coat graphite-based anode material to increase battery life, charging and discharging efficiency, and energy density. With the rapid growth of the battery market, the demand for pitch is expected to continue to rise as it is an essential material for anodes. Furthermore, this project is meaningful in that pitch with a high softening point had been entirely imported previously but OCI's technology drove the localized production. OCI, the world's largest liquid pitch producer and the only Korean company with pitch production technology, currently produces 530,000mt/y of liquid pitch. The construction of the high-softening-point pitch plant will allow OCI to broaden its business from liquid pitch using steelmaking byproducts to petroleum-based high-softening-point pitch, diversifying its revenue sources.
OCI has recently been pushing for high-value-added electronic materials employed in the high-tech sectors, such as semiconductors, displays, and EVs. To sharpen its competitive edge in electronic materials, OCI has converted the solar grade polysilicon line in its Gunsan Plant into a semiconductor line and made all-out efforts to cultivate the electronic material sector by establishing joint ventures with POSCO Chemical and Kumho P&B Chemicals.
P&O Chemical has launched high-value-added electronic material projects by high-purity hydrogen peroxide business before the groundbreaking for this high-softening-point pitch plant. With an annual capacity of 50,000mt, the hydrogen peroxide plant started commercial production and completed its first delivery in June. OCIKumho, a joint venture with Kumho P&B Chemicals, plans to break ground for an ECH (Epichlorohydrin) plant in Malaysia in the 4th quarter of this year. ECH is a raw material for epoxy used as a lightweight material for EVs.
Yoo Sin Kim, OCI’s CMO, said, "OCI’s business portfolio has been expanded to include high-value electronic materials including high-purity hydrogen peroxide and high-softening-point pitch through collaboration with POSCO Chemical, and growth momentum has been secured. OCI will work to produce high-softening-point pitch, an essential material for the rechargeable battery industry, for the first time in Korea, thereby boosting the competitiveness of the domestic rechargeable battery industry."
