SK Geocentric to Build Second Pyrolysis Plant in Dangjin with UK Company

Annual Target of 66,000 Tons for Waste Plastic Processing Capacity
President Na Kyung-soo: "A Great Help in Establishing a Domestic Circular Economy"

SK Geocentric is promoting the construction of a plastic pyrolysis plant in Dangjin, Chungnam Province, in collaboration with the UK-based plastic pyrolysis specialist company, Plastic Energy. This will be the second pyrolysis plant in Korea, following the pyrolysis plant at the Ulsan ARC (Advanced Recycling Cluster) plastic recycling complex in Nam-gu, Ulsan, which is scheduled to begin construction within this year and aims to start operations in 2025.

On the 31st (local time), SK Geocentric signed an Investment Agreement Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Chungcheongnam-do, Dangjin City, and Plastic Energy in Frankfurt, Germany. The two companies plan to establish a joint venture to build a 'Pyrolysis Plant 2' in the Songsan 2 Foreign Investment Zone in Dangjin City, Chungnam Province. The specific start of construction and plant operation dates will be decided through future consultations between the two companies. The annual plastic waste processing capacity of Plant 2 is planned to be 66,000 tons.

Plant 2 will leverage its geographical advantage of being close to the Seoul metropolitan area and the Chungcheong region to ensure smooth waste procurement in these two areas, as well as enable linkage with Ulsan ARC. The pyrolysis oil from Plant 2 will be upgraded to high quality at the post-processing facility of Ulsan ARC and then fed into petrochemical processes.

Pyrolysis oil is crude oil produced by heating waste plastics and discarded vinyl at high temperatures. When used instead of crude oil in petrochemical processes, it can be used to create new petrochemical products, making it a key pillar of the plastic circular economy. It is also called an 'urban oil field' as it extracts crude oil from discarded waste.

At the SK Group pavilion at CES 2023, the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition held in Las Vegas, USA, this January, key officials including Na Kyung-soo, President of SK Geocentric (center), and Bruno Guyon, Vice President of Plastic Energy (second from the left), are posing for a commemorative photo.
[Photo by SK Innovation]

Last year, SK Geocentric continued its partnership by signing a Heads of Agreement (HOA) with Plastic Energy for the construction of the Ulsan ARC plastic pyrolysis plant. Leveraging Plastic Energy’s experience in stably operating two pyrolysis plants over several years in locations such as Seville, Spain, and the related patents and technologies accumulated through this, the companies plan to open the era of a plastic circular economy in Korea.

Na Kyung-soo, President of SK Geocentric, said, “Operating two plastic pyrolysis plants domestically will greatly contribute to building a circular economy. We will continue to do our best to establish a plastic circular economy to achieve our goal of recycling all plastics produced by SK Geocentric by 2027.”

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