South Korea: Hanwha Total Petrochemical Increases Ethylene Production Capacity By 30%

The Daesan integrated refining and petrochemicals complex in South Korea, owned by Hanwha Total Petrochemical¹, has started its new ethylene production capacities. With a $450M investment, the site can now produce 1.4 million tons per year of ethylene, an increase of 30%.

This project was launched in April 2017 and is the first in a series of three at the complex. More than $300M are being invested to expand polyethylene production capacity by 50% to 1.1 million tons per year by the end of 2019, and nearly $500M are being invested to increase polypropylene production capacity by close to 60% to 1.1 million tons per year by 2021.

The three projects take advantage of abundant, cost-advantaged propane feedstock from the shale gas revolution in the United States. With these investments, the Daesan facility will be in a position to capture margins across the ethylene-polyethylene and propylene-polypropylene value chains. The additional production capacity will help meet rapidly growing Asian demand.

“These investments and today’s successful start-up of the first project reflect our strategy of meeting growing global demand for petrochemicals by channeling our investments into our world-class complexes and leveraging cost-advantaged feedstock” said Bernard Pinatel, President, Refining & Chemicals, Total.

Total and end-of-life of Plastics
Total’s ambition is to become the responsible energy major by 2035.

Plastics enhance consumers’ quality of life, and their lighter weight leaves a smaller carbon footprint. Nevertheless, as a producer, Total exercises the utmost vigilance when managing end-of-life of plastics, because discarded plastic waste is environmentally unacceptable.

Total is a founding member of The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, an organization that brings together around 40 member companies from across the plastics and consumer goods value chain. They have committed over $1B, with the ultimate goal of investing $1.5B, over the next five years to provide solutions to eliminate plastic pollution in the environment, particularly the oceans.

Total is working on all forms of recycling to develop high-performance recycled polymers. For example, the company produces, through its affiliate Synova, a range of recycled polypropylene products that meets the highest quality standards of original equipment manufacturers and automakers. It has also developed an innovative polystyrene recycling technology and is currently conducting proof of concept for every aspect of large-scale production. Total is a global leader in bioplastics. The Total Corbion PLA joint venture owns a plant in Thailand with a capacity of 75,000 tons per year of polylactic acid (PLA), a 100% biobased bioplastic that is recyclable and biodegradable.

¹A 50-50 joint venture between Total and Hanwha.