SK Innovation has been getting public attention in recent years for its outstanding achievements in the development of technologies to squeeze out a number of green products from coal, considered a dirty pollutant and always available at cheap prices. These products include a synthetic oil mixed with CO2 and hydrogen, synthetic natural gas, and chemical products under the Green-Coal project that the company has been working on. The company also has been producing environmentally friendly plastics from CO2 under the Green-Pol project and began to air its commercials on television to explain its Green-Coal and Green-Pol projects in an easy way. The TVCF has selected the two commercials as the top fresh ads on TV recently.

The company has been banking on the fact that the coal reserves are three times larger than oil reserves and are available at cheaper prices than any other energy natural resources. Officials of SK Innovation said the technologies will be commercialized in two to three years from now since it began in 2008 and they count on the Green-Coal project as one of its future growth engines.

In order to develop the core technologies for Green-Coal, the company has been working jointly with university labs, research institutes, and businesses to boost the results of R&D activities.

The company signed an MOU with the former Ministry of Knowledge Economy, POSCO, Korea Energy Technology Research Institute, and the Advanced Technology Research Institute to set up a cooperative network back in 2009.

SK Energy Pavilion of the World Energy Congress 

Daegu 2013 exhibition (photo:NewsWorld)

SK Innovation also developed technologies to secure polymer products from CO2, a core technology to produce environmentally friendly plastics. The company signed an agreement to transfer the technologies for producing polymer from CO2 to produce plastics and research on the subject with Aju University in 2008 to upgrade the research on the development of technologies related to the project. 

In 2011, the company won the NET from the Korea Standards Association for its new technologies, which reduces the amount of toxic gas and produces new products through catalysts. By producing polymer from CO2 to make plastics, the company has been able to reduce the use of naphtha, the traditional petroleum product for plastics and also get the CO2 exposure quantity rights, which has been a big issue in the world.

Plastics made with CO2 don’t produce toxic gas when they burn, as CO2 and water separate, minimizing damage from fire and also preventing environmental pollution. SK Innovation expects the plastics will have a diverse way of use such as construction material, packaging films, food packaging, and others.

The company completed the construction of a pilot plant to test-produce the products using the technologies it has so far developed as a base for its new venture and to focus on commercial operation of the plant in 2015.

SK Innovation is the mother company for a number of key affiliates including SK Energy, SK Global Chemical, SK Trading International, SK Lubricants, and SK Incheon Petrochem.

SK Innovation has been leading the Korean energy industry for the last 50 years, aiming to become a global energy company based on technologies by achieving growth through endless innovation. By implementing overseas resources development projects, the company is realizing its dream of making Korean an ‘oil producing country based on zero resources.’

SK Energy is aiming to become a ‘total energy provider’ as it produces and supplies a wide array of petroleum products including gasoline, kerosene, and diesel at its Ulsan complex with the facilities to produce 840,000 barrels of oil per day.