LG Chem’s fourth super absorbent polymer (SAP) plant in the Yonseong district of the Yeosu National Industrial Complex is under construction. If the new plant launches production in September as planned, it will bring the company’s annual SAP production capacity from the current 280,000 tons to 360,000 tons.
“SAP requires an advanced technology, so it has emerged as a strategic material to make a difference between our company and Chinese competitors,” said Song Hee-yoon, head of LG Chem chemical products plant.
He went on to say that LG Chem sees its production capacity surge five-fold in seven years after the company entereed the SAP business in 2008.
SAP is a polymer material that can absorb pure water up to several hundred times its own weight.
Despite the sagging chemical industry, LG Chem plans to expand investments into new materials for new growth engines.
In a recent meeting with reporters, LG Chem Vice Chairman Park Jin-soo unveiled a blueprint to create inorganic materials, innovative batteries and future materials that have not yet hit the global market, with the goal of raising revenues in those segments to 1 trillion won by 2020.
To this end, he said LG Chem plans to expand R&D outlays from 600 billion won this year to 900 billion won by 2018, and raise the number of researchers from 3,100 to 4,100.
Research manpower specializing in future materials will work at LG Chem’s research center in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi-do, which is scheduled to open soon, and LG Science Park LG Group plans to construct in the Magok District in Seoul will be utilized to research new materials.
Vice Chairman Park said LG Chem, which started out with nothing at the Yeosu plant 40 years ago, has now evolved into a business with an 1,800-fold production increase, and the Yeosu plant will create a new chapter in LG Chem’s history. He said LG Chem will continue to invest into the materials sector until people recall LG Chem is No. 1 when it comes to materials that make human lives richer.
LG Chem aim to raise sales in the overall materials field, including basic material segments such as Sap and engineering plastic, information electronics like OLED lightings and energy storage systems to 12 trillion won by 2018. The company targets at 2 trillion won in sales in 2015, a two-fold increase form 2014.
LG Chem Petrochemical business unit has eight domestic and 26 overseas plants, including a plant in Gimcheon and a newly established Yeosu SAP plant.
The new 36KT SAP plant in Yeosu will help strengthen SAP business as LG Chem’s core and strategic businesses. Moreover, with continuous investment in SAP business further expansion is scheduled each year.
LG Chem SAP Unit’s Strong Points
The vertically integrated facility guarantees highly sustainable source of supply for customers. Second, through state-of-art R&D and high quality products, the company will continue to develop. Finally, with a customer-oriented mindset, LG Chem says it will support customers’ needs and value creation by solution partner project.
By taking control of raw materials from naphtha and SAP, LG Chem is one of the few chemical companies in the world that is truly and vertically an integrated SAP supplier.
From GS Caltex, naphtha is delivered to LG Chem’s NCC plant where 1,130KT propylene produces as the raw material. Then, this propylene is delivered to the Acrylic Acid (AA) plant, which produces 193KT of Acrylic Acid. And finally, at the Gimcheon and Yeo-su plant, AA is transformed into SAP with an annual capacity of 108KT to 72KT in Kimcheon 36KT here in Yeo-su.
Caustic Soda is also vertically integrated from upstream to SAP plants with the capacity of 225KT.
LG Chem guarantees its customers a stable supply of SAP to a perfect vertical integration.
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