SK Innovation , SK Group’s energy and chemical company, plans to build a KRW1.7tr (USD1.19bn) plastic recycling complex by the second half of 2025 in its Ulsan factory, as reported by the Korea Herald on October 11. The business plans to construct facilities that will collect 250,000 tons of waste plastic per year and recycle 80% to 90% of it. PureCycle Technologies, an American waste plastic recycling firm, as well as Loop Industries, a Canadian-based clean technology company, will supply chemical recycling technologies to the complex. The chemical recycling technologies supplied by these firms can melt plastic waste and remove colors and other foreign chemicals from the plastic.

The facilities’ construction is scheduled to commence in September 2023. The joint venture between SK Innovation and PureCycle Technologies will operate a factory that recovers high-purity polypropylene resin from dissolved plastic waste, while SK Innovation’s joint venture with Loop Industries will run a recycling plant dedicated to polyethylene terephthalate depolymerization. SK Innovation’s petrochemical subsidiary, SK Global Chemical (SKGC), changed its name to SK Geocentric in August 2021 and shifted its primary business to waste plastics recycling. The subsidiary intends to invest KRW5tr (USD4.3bn) by 2025 to process 900,000 tons of waste plastics per year and recycle 2.5m tons of plastics by 2027. It also intends to increase its capacity for eco-friendly materials from 500,000 tons per year to 1.9m tons per year by 2025.

Sources:

https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20221011000528&np=1&mp=1

https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/zh/market-insights/latest-news/energy-transition/100521-south-koreas-sk-innovation-to-adopt-pyrolysis-oil-as-eco-friendly-feedstock-for-ulsan-refinery

https://www.kedglobal.com/cn/%E5%93%81%E7%89%8C%E9%87%8D%E5%A1%91/newsView/ked202108310011

http://www.tanpaifang.com/tanguwen/2022/0531/86793.html