[Report] "Equivalent to Planting 27,600 Trees"... Inside Kumho Petrochemical's CCU Facility

Completed in July Last Year: Capturing 76,000 Tons of CO2 Annually
Supplied to Shipyards, Food and Beverage, Horticulture, and Semiconductor Cleaning
Economic Feasibility Still Lacking; Strong Government Policy Commitment Needed

Lee Yongseon, Head of Power Generation Technology Team (Manager) at Kumho Petrochemical, is explaining the CCU facility. Kumho Petrochemical

On the morning of the 21st, at the Kumho Petrochemical plant in the Yeosu Industrial Complex, South Jeolla Province, two tank lorries were injecting carbon dioxide from large storage tanks labeled respectively as "for industrial use" and "for food and beverage use." Lee Yongseon, General Manager of the Power Technology Team at Kumho Petrochemical, explained, "Our partner companies come here every day to load liquefied carbon dioxide."

This liquefied carbon dioxide is sold to customers for use in shipyards (for welding), food and beverages (such as dry ice), horticultural facilities (as a growth promoter), and semiconductor manufacturing (for cleaning processes). Industrial-grade carbon dioxide is supplied at 99% purity, while food and beverage-grade is supplied at 99.9% purity. As the summer season, which sees high demand for dry ice, approaches, liquefied carbon dioxide is also entering its peak season.

After about two years of construction, Kumho Petrochemical completed its Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) facility at the second Yeosu plant in July last year. CCU is a technology that captures carbon dioxide generated from power plants and industrial processes in order to minimize atmospheric emissions, and then utilizes the captured carbon for industrial purposes. The effectiveness and necessity of CCU is gradually being recognized in industries such as petrochemicals, steel, and cement, where aggressive carbon reduction is required.

Kumho Petrochemical operates its own combined heat and power plant to supply the steam and electricity needed for its factory. The CCU facility was established to reduce carbon emissions generated in this process.

The facility captures and liquefies 220 tons of carbon dioxide daily for sale. It has the capacity to capture 76,000 tons of carbon dioxide and liquefy 69,000 tons annually. Lee Yongseon, General Manager of the Yeosu Energy Power Technology Team, explained, "This has the equivalent effect of planting about 27,600 trees."

A view of Kumho Petrochemical's carbon capture and utilization (CCU) facility located in the Yeosu Industrial Complex. Kumho Petrochemical

The CCU facility consists mainly of a cooler, absorption tower, stripping tower, compressor, refrigerator, and storage tanks.

Some of the flue gas emitted from the boiler stacks of the combined heat and power plant is piped directly to a nearby cooling tower, where its temperature is lowered to between 40 and 60 degrees Celsius. In the absorption tower, an absorbent is used to selectively capture only the carbon dioxide from the flue gas. Lowering the temperature of the flue gas is intended to increase the carbon dioxide absorption rate in the subsequent process.

Once the carbon dioxide and absorbent are separated again in the stripping tower, the carbon dioxide undergoes liquefaction and is stored in storage tanks. Kumho Petrochemical has two storage tanks, each with a capacity of 500 tons.

K&H Specialty Gas, a subsidiary of the Kumho Petrochemical Group specializing in liquefied carbon dioxide gas manufacturing, refines the captured carbon and produces liquid carbon dioxide and dry ice. The resulting products are supplied to a wide range of industrial sites, including food and medical uses, welding, and horticulture.

A total of 47.6 billion won was invested in building the Kumho Petrochemical CCU facility, of which 4.7 billion won came from government support. The absorbent used is Kosol-6, an amine-based absorbent developed by the Korea Electric Power Research Institute.

Although domestic technology is used, all the raw materials for the absorbent are imported. Currently, this method is used by Kumho Petrochemical, Korea Midland Power, and Gunsan SGC Energy in Korea. A Kumho Petrochemical representative explained, "If the domestic CCU market expands, it will be possible to source raw materials domestically, which would reduce the cost of the absorbent."

Jaeuk Park, Executive Director and Head of Yeosu Energy Plant at Kumho Petrochemical, is explaining the liquefied carbon dioxide storage tank. Kumho Petrochemical

Kumho Petrochemical has a total of four combined heat and power plant boilers, but the CCU facility is currently applied to only boiler No.8. At present, about 10% of the flue gas emitted from the stack is subject to carbon dioxide capture.

Achieving carbon neutrality would require a significant expansion of CCU facilities, but building and operating them incurs substantial costs. Absorbents are still expensive, and the processes of stripping and liquefaction involve high energy costs. Due to insufficient economic feasibility, it is difficult to expect the expansion of CCU based solely on the efforts of individual companies.

The industry believes that strong policy commitment from the government is essential. A Kumho Petrochemical representative commented, "Our CCU business is still in the early stages, having just taken the first step as a private company," and added, "Comprehensive support efforts from outside the company are necessary to strengthen our capabilities."

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