Hanwha Total Petrochemicals Co. Ltd., a 50-50 joint venture of Hanwha Group and Total SA, has let a contract to W.R. Grace & Co. to provide technology licensing for a grassroots polypropylene (PP) unit at its Daesan petrochemical complex in Chungnam Province, South Korea, about 145 km from Seoul.
As part of the contract, Grace will license its proprietary UNIPOL PP process technology as well as its CONSISTA catalyst for the 400,000-tonne/year unit, the service provider said.
The PP unit is scheduled to begin operations in 2021, Grace said.
A value of the contract was not disclosed.
This newest order follows Hanwha Total Petrochemicals’ December 2018 announcement that it will invest nearly $500 million to expand the polyethylene (PE) capacity at the Daesan complex by 60% to 1.1 million tpy by yearend 2020, which will also increase ethylene capacity at the site by 10% to 1.5 million tpy (OGJ Online, Dec. 3, 2018).
Designed to take advantage of competitively priced propane feedstock abundantly available due to the US shale gas revolution, the planned ethylene-PE investments will better position the Daesan complex to capture margins across the propylene-PP value chain as it currently does in the ethylene-PE value chain, as well as allow the complex to meet local demand and supply Asia-Pacific’s fast-growing polymers market (OGJ Online, Dec. 11, 2017; Apr. 12, 2017).
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
