Hyundai partners with Honeywell UOP to adapt Daesan plant

Hyundai Oil Bank CEO Kang Dal-ho, left, and Honeywell UOP Vice President Bryan Glover sign a partnership, Tuesday. [HYUNDAI OIL BANK]

Hyundai Oil Bank has teamed up with Honeywell UOP to transform its existing oil refining factory in Daesan, South Chungcheon, to manufacture raw materials for petrochemical products.

Oil refining plants mainly produce gasoline and diesel but also have byproducts like naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas. After the transformation, the plant will be more focused on producing the latter, which can be used as an ingredient for petrochemicals. The end product could later be used in solar panels, battery components and bio chemicals like ecofriendly diesel and plane fuel.

After its transformation, the Daesan factory’s produce will be supplied to Hyundai’s “heavy feed petrochemical complex.” Located in the same area, this facility is slated to produce solar panels and electric vehicle battery components from this year’s end.

In that transformation, technology and equipment from Honeywell UOP will be used. According to Hyundai, the U.S. firm owns the largest number of patents in energy and petrochemical technology in the world.

Hyundai’s investment to transform the Daesan plant is part of an initiative to change its business portfolio, currently heavily focused on oil refining.

BY SONG KYOUNG-SON [song.kyoungson@joongang.co.kr]