In a statement, POSCO said it is looking to tap rising demand for maritime scrubbers as new regulations on sulfur emissions from ships are set to take effect.

“Since last year, Korea’s demand for SO_x scrubbers has skyrocketed. Earlier last year, the landscape for scrubber production was quite different – only a handful of overseas companies were producing a limited amount of steels for scrubber production. With no domestic companies providing base materials for the scrubber, Korean companies faced major challenges to meet the increasing demands – high material costs and (lead times as long as eight months),”  the company said.

POSCO said it developed the grade a long time ago, but never commercialized it owing to lack of demand.

POSCO has more details about the product and discusses its market ambitions here.