■ An environment-friendly cable that recycles insulators and emits zero greenhouse gas ■ Introducing a light-weight high-density product with 35% bigger transmission capacity than previous products LS Cable announced on November 17 that it became the first in Korea and the second in the world to successfully develop a 22.9K distribution cable using environment-friendly non-crosslink polypropylene (see glossary) as the insulator after two years’ of research. In general, distribution cables cross-link (linking linear polymer like a mesh, see glossary) polyethylene in the manufacturing process to use it as an insulating material. In this process, methane, the representative greenhouse gas, is generated. However, the non-cross link cable, developed by LS Cable, adopted non-cross link polypropylene as the insulator, thereby preventing the emission of greenhouse gases. The greatest advantage of this product is that, since the insulator does not go through the cross-linking process, which is chemical deformation, the insulator can be recycled after the useful life of the cable ends. Also, in developing products using non-cross link polypropylene, LS Cable raised the continuous operating temperature from 90℃ to 110℃, thereby increasing the power transmission capacity of cables by 35%, and successfully making polypropylene more flexible than previously. Accordingly, the use of lighter and more compact cables than before to transmit the same amount of electric power, the company explains, added to user convenience. In addition, as LS Cable became the second in the world to develop this product in the wake of submarine cables and superconductive cables, the technical competitiveness of LS Cable has been proven to be world-class. Meanwhile, LS Cable developed various environment-friendly products, such as the indoor environment-friendly lead-free cable called ZeLos, the halogen free flame resistant cable (HFCO), the halogen free insulated cables (HFIX) and the gas-insulated transmission line, taking the lead in invigorating the green business. “This new product is a reflection of LS Cable’s Green Business Spirit that puts customer satisfaction and environment before everything,” said Mr. Jong-ho Son, President of LS Cable. “Everyone at LS Cable will do their best to make the company Global No. 1 by continuously developing state-of-the-art environment-friendly products.” ※ Glossary Polypropylene & Polyethylene Polypropylene is a thermoplastic resin obtained by polymerizing propylene. It is similar to polyethylene, but high in strength and light. As the raw material is inexpensive propylene gas, it is economical, and can be used for various purposes, e.g. injection molding, extrusion molding, coating of bells or aluminum, films, fibers and tapes. This is another strength of polypropylene. Polyethylene is one of thermoplastic plastics. As it is light and flexible, it is widely used in industrial materials and in miscellaneous goods of everyday use, i.e. in every aspect of our lives. Particularly it is frequently used in electric insulations, bottles and packing materials. As a popular item in petrochemical industry, polyethylene represents universal plastics. Cross-link Cross-link refers to changing linear polymers to mesh structures, that is, linking linear polymers looking like a long chain together. Going through this process, the linear polymer improves in malleability and elasticity. Polyethylene uses organic peroxides to go through the cross-linking process. Then, this process changes the chemical structure and transforms it into cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE). The polyethylene cross-linking technology was developed in the US in the 1950’s, and is continuously evolving for application to increasingly higher voltage. The shortcoming of cross-linking is that methane, a typical greenhouse gas, is emitted in this process.