Hanwha Solutions is strengthening its ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management by developing technology to chemically recycle plastics by 2024. The company aims to take the lead in establishing a 'plastic circular economy' ecosystem by drastically reducing plastic waste and carbon emissions during the production process.

Hanwha Solutions announced on the 27th that it has been selected as the lead company for the 'Waste Plastic Pyrolysis Oil-Based Naphtha Production Technology' project, a national project promoted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy as part of the Materials and Components Technology Development Project.

This project, in which the public and private sectors will invest a total of 12.3 billion won, involves the Korea Institute of Energy Research, which signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Hanwha Solutions last January for the development of eco-friendly processing technology for waste plastics, as well as the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, KAIST, Chonnam National University, and Hanwha Total.

The goal of this project is to develop a technology (PTC: Plastic to Chemicals) that produces naphtha by removing impurities from pyrolysis oil produced by decomposing waste plastics at high temperatures and altering its molecular structure. If naphtha produced from waste plastic is converted back into basic plastic raw materials such as ethylene and propylene through a naphtha cracking facility (NCC), a circular economy that enables the repeated use of plastic can be established.

Currently, global chemical companies such as Germany's BASF are also jumping into the development of technologies to process the rapidly increasing amount of waste plastic worldwide.

Hanwha Solutions, in cooperation with the Korea Energy Research Institute (KERI) and others, oversees the development of catalysts and processes—key technologies capable of improving naphtha quality by removing impurities from pyrolysis oil. Hanwha Total plans to verify the commercial viability of naphtha produced using PTC technology. Following a pilot project with a scale of 1 ton per day by 2024, the company plans to design a commercial process capable of producing 30,000 tons of naphtha annually from waste plastics.

Son In-wan, Head of the Future Technology Research Center at Hanwha Solutions, stated, “PTC, which enables the chemical recycling of waste plastics, is an eco-friendly technology that the nation must secure,” adding, “Along with PTC, we will focus on the commercialization of various future technologies to solve environmental problems, such as biodegradable materials and bioplastic technology.”