UPDATE: South Korea’s Hanwha Total to shut cracker for debottlenecking

Hanwha Total Petrochemical is planning to take its sole naphtha cracker in Daesan off-stream by end of March 2019 for debottlenecking work, sources said. This has been planned since 2017.

The cracker is set to remain off-line for 30-45 days and upon completion, ethylene output from the cracker would surge by 28% from the current production of 1.1 million tons to 1.41 million tons/year. Meanwhile, propylene output would increase by 14% to 980,000 tons from the existing 860,000 tons/year.

It is reported that the company’s olefin conversion unit (OCU) would also be shut during this period. The line is producing 220,000 tons/year of propylene. 

Hanwha Total is also planning expansion project at its downstream PP and PE units.