SKC Launches Pyrolysis Oil Business Extracting Fuel from Waste Plastic

Complete Pilot Facility Design by August and Start Operation This Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] SKC is set to accelerate its pyrolysis oil business that extracts oil from discarded plastics. After signing a business agreement with Ulsan City in December last year and establishing a cooperative system, SKC has been promoting commercialization this year by partnering with Kankyo Energy, a Japanese venture company with unique technology.

On the 26th, SKC announced that it decided to build a pyrolysis oil pilot facility applying Kankyo Energy’s technology on the site of SK PIC Global’s Ulsan plant. Kankyo Energy’s technology enables rapid pyrolysis at lower temperatures and continuous feeding of waste plastics, resulting in higher yield and productivity compared to other methods. SKC directly verified the technology’s excellence in Japan earlier this year and secured joint ownership of commercial technology and exclusive rights for Korea in June.

SKC plans to complete the facility design within this month and begin construction to start operations within the year. The company will produce pyrolysis oil from domestically collected waste plastics such as vinyl, establish process conditions optimized for the Korean environment, and build a commercial facility at the Ulsan plant by 2023. The commercial facility will process over 50,000 tons of waste plastics annually to produce more than 35,000 tons of pyrolysis oil, which will be used as boiler fuel at SK PIC Global’s Ulsan plant.

Currently, out of the approximately 350 million tons of plastic used annually worldwide, the recycling rate is only about 15%. Most plastics are incinerated, landfilled, or flow into the ocean. SKC, which has focused on eco-friendly initiatives early on?such as the world’s first commercialization of the eco-friendly HPPO process in 2008 and the world’s first commercialization of biodegradable PLA film in 2009?became the first Korean company to join the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) in 2019, reviewing technologies to solve the waste plastic problem.

Pyrolysis technology for waste plastics is recognized as a technology that can significantly increase plastic recycling rates by extracting pyrolysis oil regardless of mixed materials. However, commercialization worldwide remains in its early stages. SKC plans to rapidly advance the business by combining the advanced technology of its Japanese partner with SKC’s plant operation know-how. The company is also considering expanding the business globally in cooperation with its chemical business joint venture partner, Kuwait PIC.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.