First Domestic 'Medium Crude Oil Petrochemical Facility' Starts Operation in Daesan, Chungnam

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The ‘Heavy Oil-based Petrochemical Complex (hereinafter HPC)’ will begin full-scale operation in Daesan, Seosan, Chungnam. HPC is a petrochemical process using desulfurized heavy oil as raw material, and this is the first case in Korea to produce petrochemical products using this method, with only seven such plants existing worldwide.

According to Chungnam Province on the 12th, the completion ceremony of the Hyundai Chemical HPC plant was held at the Hyundai Daejuk General Industrial Complex in Daesan, Seosan on the same day.

Hyundai Chemical was established through investment by Hyundai Oilbank and Lotte Chemical. The Hyundai Chemical HPC plant was constructed in the Hyundai Daejuk General Industrial Complex, which was created by reclaiming 670,000㎡ of sea area in Daejuk-ri, Daesan-eup, with an investment of over 3 trillion KRW.

The Hyundai Chemical HPC plant is expected to mainly produce ▲Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) 240,000 tons ▲High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) 550,000 tons ▲Polypropylene (PP) 500,000 tons ▲Butadiene 170,000 tons.

Among these, Ethylene Vinyl Acetate is used in various fields such as high value-added solar sheet films and agricultural films, and High-Density Polyethylene is used for producing various plastic containers and vinyl bags due to its excellent strength.

Polypropylene, a low-weight high-strength material, is used in home appliances, disposable products, and packaging materials, while Butadiene is used as a raw material for synthetic rubber in the production of tires and coated gloves.

In particular, the Hyundai Chemical HPC plant’s strength lies in cost competitiveness through vertical integration of refining and petrochemicals.

Also, by using heavy oil, a byproduct generated during the crude oil refining process at Hyundai Oilbank, as a raw material instead of fuel, it is known that about 2.48 million tons of carbon can be reduced annually.

The province and Hyundai Chemical expect that the operation of the HPC plant will increase petrochemical product exports by about 3.8 trillion KRW annually.

During the construction of the plant, a total of 3.2 million workers were employed, and once the plant is in operation, it is expected to create 1,500 direct and indirect jobs inside and outside the plant.

Kim Tae-heum, Governor of Chungnam Province, said, “Chungnam recently declared itself a special carbon-neutral economy province, leading climate crisis response and striving to create new growth engines. The Hyundai Chemical HPC plant responds to the era’s demand for ‘carbon neutrality’ and will stand tall as a project that will accompany Chungnam and Korea for the next 100 years.”

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