A Project Pushed by the Korean Government

Hanwha Group's main office in central Seoul

Hanwha Solutions plans to develop technologies to chemically recycle plastic by 2024. 

The company announced on April 27 that it has been selected as the main operator of the Waste Plastic Pyrolysis Oil-Based Naphtha Production Technology Project, a national project pushed by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy as part of its material parts technology development project.

The public and private sectors will invest a total of 12.3 billion won in this project. The participants include Hanwha Solutions, the Korea Institute of Energy Research, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, KAIST, Jeonnam National University and Hanwha Total.

This task aims to develop plastics to chemicals (PTC) technology that produces naphtha by removing impurities from pyrolysis oil that decomposes waste plastic at high temperatures and changing the molecular structure of pyrolysis oil. Turning naphtha produced with waste plastics into basic plastic materials such as ethylene and propylene through a naphtha cracking center (NCC) can establish a circular economy where plastics can be nicely recycled.

Hanwha Solution will orchestrate the development of catalysts and processes which holds the key to improving the quality of naphtha by removing impurities from pyrolysis oil in cooperation with the Korea Institute of Energy Research. Hanwha Total is planning to verify whether naphtha produced with PTC technology is commercialized or not. By 2024, the company plans to design a commercial process that can produce 30,000 tons of naphtha annually with waste plastic after a pilot project of producing one ton of naphtha per day.

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