SK Global Chemical (SKGC), a South Korean petrochemical company, will rebrand itself as SK Geo Centric (SKGC) starting tomorrow, as it strives to change its business portfolio to focus more on eco-friendly goods such as recyclable plastics. SKGC intends to invest 5 trillion won ($4.3 billion) by 2025 to develop recycling technologies and infrastructure, as well as its eco-friendly material industry. The firm intends to raise its eco-friendly material manufacturing capacity to 1.9 million t/yr by 2025, up from the present capacity of 500,000 t/yr. It has also revealed a strategy to recycle 2.5 million tonnes of plastic per year by 2027, which equates to 100 percent of its global output.
At Ulsan, SKGC has a naphtha-fed cracker that produces 680,000 t/yr of ethylene and 350,000 t/yr of propylene. It idled its older, smaller cracker in Ulsan last year because to a lack of competitiveness. Ulsan additionally has a capacity of 800,000 t/yr of paraxylene (PX) and 650,000 t/yr of benzene, while its Ulsan Aromatics joint venture with Japanese refiner Eneos has a capacity of 1 million t/yr of PX and 600,000 t/yr of benzene.
