The commercial operations of the plant have started and it can now produce 1.4 million tonnes of ethylene per year
Image: The project is the first in a series of three at the Daesan integrated refining and petrochemicals complex. Photo courtesy of Markus Naujoks from Pixabay.
Hanwha Total Petrochemical has completed the expansion of its ethylene production facility at the Daesan integrated refining and petrochemicals complex located in South Korea.
The commercial operations have started at the facility and it can now produce 1.4 million tonnes of ethylene annually.
The firm has invested $450m (£362m) to increase the production capacity of ethylene by 30% at the petrochemical complex.
Hanwha Total Petrochemical is a 50:50 joint between South Korean business conglomerate Hanwha and French oil and gas giant Total.
Launched in April 2017, the project is the first in a series of three at the Daesan integrated refining and petrochemicals complex.
According to the company, over $300m (£241m) is being invested to increase polyethylene production capacity by 50% to 1.1 million tonnes per annum by the end of 2019, and approximately $500m (£402m) is being invested to expand polypropylene production capacity by close to 60% to 1.1 million tonnes annually by 2021.
Total said that all the investments in the petrochemical facility are being made to take advantage of the competitively priced propane feedstock, which is available abundantly owing to the shale gas revolution in the US.
It also said that the new production from the Daesan petrochemical complex will enable it to address local demand and supply the rapid-growing Asian market.
Total refining & chemicals president Bernard Pinatel said: “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.”
Other investments of Hanwha Total Petrochemical
In December 2018, Hanwha Total Petrochemical had announced an investment of $500m (£400m) to expand the Daesan petrochemical complex. In late 2014, Hanwha Total Petrochemical upgraded the Daesan petrochemical complex with an investment of around $2bn (£1.6bn) to double its production capacity to meet the strong growth in demand for plastics in Asia, particularly in China.