Hanwha Total Petrochemical, a 50/50 joint venture between Total S.A. (Paris, France) and Hanwha Group (Seoul, South Korea), will invest nearly $500 million to further expand its Daesan integrated refining and petrochemical complex in South Korea. The planned investment will increase polypropylene capacity by close to 60% to 1.1 million metric tons (m.t.) per year by the end of 2020. The ethylene capacity will simultaneously increase by 10% to 1.5 million m.t.
This project complements the ongoing investments totaling $750 million to increase the complex’s ethylene production capacity by 30% to 1.4 million m.t./yr by mid-2019 and to expand polyethylene production capacity by 50% to 1.1 million m.t. by end-2019. All these investments are designed to take advantage of competitively priced propane feedstock, which is abundantly available due to the shale gas revolution in the U.S. With this new investment, Daesan will be in a position to capture margins across the propylene- polypropylene value chain, as it already does in the ethylene-polyethylene value chain.
The additional production of high-value-added polymers will allow the complex to meet local demand and supply the fast-growing Asian market.
“This new investment in Daesan is fully in line with our strategy of growth in petrochemicals to meet global demand, focusing investments on our world-class facilities and leveraging competitively priced feedstock. This polypropylene project complements our offering of high- value-added polymers to the fast-growing Asian market,” says Bernard Pinatel, president, Refining & Chemicals at Total.
Daesan is one of Total’s six world-class integrated complexes and a strategic asset for both shareholders. It comprises a flexible condensate splitter, a competitive steam cracker and units producing polymers, styrene and aromatics.
By Gerald Ondrey
Source: Chemical Engineering
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