Hyundai Oilbank began to produce eco-friendly naphtha by inputting plastic waste pyrolysis oil into the process of refining crude oil from November. 

The naphtha produced will be supplied to a nearby petrochemical company, and it will be ultimately reborn into new plastic products, thus building the circular economy. 

Initially, Hyundai Oilbank plans to conduct a verification research by putting 100 tons of plastic waste pyrolysis oil into the process of refining crude oil and increase input on a gradual basis. 

Hyundai Oilbank Central Technology Research Institute is working on the research on how to produce petroleum and petrochemical products based on diverse pyrolysis oil the improving of properties and removing of impurities.

Hyundai Oilbank’s reason for introducing the pyrolysis oil is to fix a global issue of treating rising plastic waste amounts. China, the world’s largest waste importer, announced a plan to ban the import of all solid wastes from this year. 

The Basel Convention has strengthened regulations on plastic from this year. It means that countries producing plastic waste should treat them on their own.

The project of introducing plastic waste pyrolysis oil has been made possible thanks to the government’s greater concern and cooperation. 

Under current law, Hyundai Oilbank, a refinery, is banned from using the pyrolysis oil from plastic waste as a fuel. Hyundai Oilbank submitted a request for a regulatory sand-box program to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and Korea Institute for Advancement Technology (KIAT) early this year and obtained a go-ahead on verification of the process.

Hyundai Oilbank is now seeking a certification for plastic waste pyrolysis oil. The refinery company plans to obtain a certification on its eco-friendliness from international certification institutions, such as the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification and sell the naphtha produced from the pyrolysis oil as “green naphtha.”

Its eco-friendly power generation is extraordinary. Hyundai Oilbank is seeking to build an eco-friendly power plant using LNG and blue hydrogen. 

To this end, Hyundai Oilbank established Hyundai E&F, a subsidiary, in June and obtained a permission on the community energy business.

The community energy business specializes in supplying energies such as electricity and heat to industrial facilities.

Hyundai E&F plans to build facilities capable of producing 230 tons of steam per hour and 290MW power amounts of electricity with their commercial operation slated for 2025. 

Steam and power produced will be supplied to subsidiaries of Hyundai Oilbank such as Hyundai Chemical and Hyundai and Shell Base Oil.

In particular, Hyundai E&F is planning to build an eco-friendly plant using as fuels not only LNG but also up to 30 percent portion of blue hydrogen, being produced by the Daesan plant.

Hyundai Oilbank CEO Kang Dal-ho said, “LNG-blue hydrogen power generation is one of our diverse carbon neutrality efforts, and it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions up to 56 percent compared to conventional fossil fuel power generation, and if a 30 percent portion of hydrogen is put into an LNG power plant, it will cut greenhouse gas emissions an additional 11 percent.”.