[BizLeader] Hansung Clean Tech Subsidiary "Extracting Resources from Discarded Liquid Waste... Creating New Revenue"

From Waste Treatment to Resource Recycling: A One-Stop Solution
Surging Demand from Major Corporations Due to Strengthened Government ESG Policies... New Revenue on the Rise

Kyunghwi Seon, CEO of EN Water Solution.

"We have developed technology to extract recyclable resources from liquid waste that is currently being discarded. With the market rapidly growing in line with companies' ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) needs, we plan to create unprecedented revenue."

Kyung Hee-seon, CEO of EnWater Solution, explained the company's vision in an interview with Asia Economy.

EnWater Solution is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hanseong Cleantec, a specialized industrial water treatment company, and is the largest comprehensive waste recycling and wastewater treatment company in South Korea. It specializes in treating high-concentration liquid waste generated by advanced electronic device industries such as semiconductors and displays. Currently, it handles 70% of the waste consigned by major domestic corporations, its key clients.

EnWater Solution holds various permits related to waste management, enabling it to operate a one-line system that simultaneously treats waste and wastewater and directly sells the recycled resources, unlike its competitors. Obtaining new waste-related permits is difficult, creating high entry barriers. This gives EnWater Solution a competitive edge in price competitiveness over other companies in the existing liquid waste treatment business.

Additionally, the company owns a 10,000-pyeong (approximately 33,000 square meters) facility in Dangjin, Chungcheongnam-do, close to key clients located in Pyeongtaek, Asan, and Cheongju, offering excellent geographical accessibility. Moreover, the largest sludge landfill site in the country is located right next to the Dangjin facility, providing logistics cost savings.

Based on this stable business capability, EnWater Solution plans to actively promote "waste treatment resource recycling" as a future growth business. This involves extracting recyclable resources from waste that was previously discarded. With the recent introduction of the government's resource circulation performance management system mandating recycling ratios, companies are now required to consider resource recycling as essential.

CEO Kyung stated, "We have been conducting various projects for waste resource recycling, including three years of research and development. The structure adds resource recycling revenue to existing sales, and we aim to have 40% of our sales come from recycling business within the next two to three years."

EnWater Solution possesses recycling technologies in five areas, including ammonium sulfate and fluorite (calcium fluoride). Ammonium sulfate recycling, expected to generate results starting this year, is a technology that extracts ammonium sulfate from waste liquid produced in the etching process of advanced electronic device industries. EnWater Solution holds a patent for technology that instantly captures highly toxic, high-concentration ammonia gas (up to 400,000 ppm). Due to the downturn in the petrochemical industry, total production of ammonium sulfate has decreased, making it advantageous to secure sales channels.

Fluorite recycling also utilizes fluoride components in etching waste liquid to recycle fluorite. Currently, product development with a purity of over 92% is in the final stages, and a pilot facility is in operation. The extracted fluorite will be supplied to steel mills and hydrofluoric acid manufacturers.

Performance related to waste treatment resource recycling is expected to begin in earnest this year. EnWater Solution recorded sales of 27.9 billion KRW from waste and wastewater treatment alone last year and plans to grow sales to 42 billion KRW by 2028 through the resource recycling business. Operating profit is also expected to increase from about 4.2 billion KRW last year to over 10 billion KRW.

CEO Kyung said, "We are establishing mid- to long-term sales plans, including the resource recycling business, aiming for an initial public offering (IPO) and pursuing continuous growth. Based on our industry-leading market share, we plan to strengthen our competitiveness as a leading advanced tech recycling company in the essential waste/wastewater treatment sector of the advanced electronic device industry."

Factory view of EN Water Solution.

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