Korea-based Hanwha Total to expand PP production capacity by 60%

Petrochemical company Hanwha Total Petrochemical (HTC) has invested $1.3 billion to develop new polypropylene (PP) line at the Daesan complex in Korea to boost its production capacity by 60 per cent, bringing it to 1.1 million tons per year.

A new propane furnace has also been set up to increase ethylene production capacity by 10 per cent.
The total ethylene production of the unit will now be 1.5 million tons per year, the company said in a press release.

The projects announced in 2017 and 2018 to expand the production capacity at the Daesan integrated refining and petrochemical complex, take advantage of abundant, cost-advantaged propane feedstock from the US.

The new polypropylene line, with a capacity of 400,000 tons a year, will allow Daesan to supply to the Korean market as well as export to countries like China. It will enable the manufacturing of high-value-added, durable goods for specialty applications.

“The successful completion of these projects in South Korea is an excellent illustration of our strategy of meeting growing global demand for polymers, especially for durable applications, by focusing investments on our world-class complexes. In the case of Daesan, we also leverage competitively priced feedstock and monomer-polymer integration,” said Bernard Pinatel, president of refining & chemicals at Total.

HTC has also launched a new polypropylene compound line at its Dongguan site in southern China, which will enable the joint venture to develop specific grades containing recycled polymers, in partnership with its customers, as HTC’s contribution to Total’s ambition of producing 30 per cent recycled polymers by 2030.

Hanwha Total Petrochemical is a joint venture between Korea based Hanwha Group, a global leader in manufacturing, construction, finance, services and leisure industries, and France-based Total, a broad energy company that produces and markets fuels, natural gas and electricity.