Hanwha Total has completed the expansion of its petrochemicals plant in Daesan, South Chungcheong Province, to ramp up the production of polypropylene and ethylene, the company said Wednesday.

The 530 billion-won ($472 million) project, which took 28 months for completion, included the building of a new polypropylene factory with annual production capacity of 400,000 metric tons, raising the firm’s total polypropylene production capacity to 1.12 million tons, the biggest scale in South Korea. The construction cost 380 billion won.

Polypropylene is a thermoplastic used in a variety of applications, including packing for consumer products and plastic parts for cars.

The remaining 150 billion won was injected into the expansion of the naphtha cracking center side gas cracker. Instead of using naphtha, the NCC side gas cracker uses liquefied petroleum gas, which is cheaper, to produce feedstock like ethylene. The expansion will raise Hanwha Total’s annual production capacity of ethylene from the previous 1.38 million tons to 1.53 million tons.

“The 530 billion-won project is expected to increase our annual revenue by 840 billion won,” a Hanwha Total official said.

The project is the last stage of Hanwha Total’s 1.47 trillion-won expansion plan inaugurated in 2017.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldocpr.com)