Seoul - Chemical maker SKC aims to produce 600 kilotonnes-per-annum of propylene oxide (PO) by 2016, starting with a 30 ktpa increase at its current hydrogen-peroxide-to-propylene-oxide (HPPO) plant this year.
SKC, which operates of the world's first HPPO plant, set up using a license from Evonik and Uhde, plans to increase capacity at that plant, and then to build another by 2016 with a capacity of 200 ktpa.
The 30-ktpa revamp at SKC's facility in Ulsan, South Korea is due to be completed by the first half of 2012, with a second increase of 70 ktpa planned by the end of 2012.
The company said in a 22 June statement that if everything went to plan, it could double the production capacity of its Ulsan HPPO plant from 100 ktpa to 200 ktpa by 2013.
Added to the forecast capacity from the proposed new plant, SKC said it expected aimed to produce 600 ktpa of PO by 2016. The South Korean company added that it will enlarge its PO downstream production, such as polyol and propylene glycol, and global system houses as necessary.
SKC president Park Jang-suk predicted that HPPO would dominate the market in the future, as conventional PO plants may face environmental problems due to emissions.
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