An Ethylene Plant That Uses LPG as Feedstock
Hanwha Total Petrochemical has wrapped up the construction of an ethylene production facility at its Daesan Plant in South Chungcheong Province.
The company announced on Sept. 17 that the plant uses can produce 310,000 tons of ethylene and 130,000 tons of propylene annually. It has invested 540 billion won to build the new plant. Construction started in April 2017.
The new facility boosts the petrochemical giant’s annual capacity to 1.4 million tons of ethylene and 106 million tons of propylene. Ethylene and propylene are basic raw materials used to make petrochemical products such as plastics. Hanwha Total expects its annual sales to grow by 590 billion won due to the facility expansion.
It is noteworthy that the new facility uses LPG, which is cheaper than naphtha, as feedstock. It is designed to share production infrastructure such as steam, electricity and water with the company's existing naphtha cracking center (NCC). Therefore, its construction cost was 25 percent lower compared with a conventional NCC.
Hanwha Total Petrochemical is planning to win fierce competition by boosting the economies of scale and cost competitiveness through this new facility.
The company is also planning to expand polyethylene production by 400,000 tons by the end of this year and ethylene production by 150,000 tons, propylene production by 40,000 tons and polypropylene production by 400,000 tons by early 2021. A total of 1.4 trillion won will be invested by the beginning of 2021, including the cost for the gas decommissioning facility which has been completed.
"When all these expansion plans are executed, we will be able to expand our synthetic resin business and shift our product portfolio to high value-added products,” a company official said. “Then our company will expand its main business areas from basic oils such as styrene monomer (SM) and paraxylene (PX) to synthetic resins. By doing so, Hanwha Total Petrochemical will be able to generate stable profits by quickly responding to the volatility of business environments.”