July 2, 2018 | KBR SCORE™ Technology Selected for GS Caltex Grassroots Olefins Plant in South Korea
KBR, Inc. announced today that it has been awarded a contract to supply its proprietary SCORE™ Ethylene Technology to GS Caltex Corporation for a grassroots mixed feed cracker (MFC) for its project in Yeosu, South Korea. Under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide its innovative Selective Cracking Optimum Recovery (SCORE™) technology license and basic engineering design services for a 700 KTA ethylene mixed feed cracker to be built by GS Caltex, a company owned by GS Energy and U.S. based Chevron Corp. The new plant will use naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas and refinery off-gases as its main feedstocks. It will be constructed in the South Korean southern city of Yeosu where GS Caltex's 790,000 barrels-per-day refinery is located. The project will use KBR's highly selective SC-1 furnaces for the highest yield and flexibility. (Source)
29th Aug 2018 | GS Caltex to Build Olefin Plant in Yeosu for 2.6 Tln Won
GS Caltex said on Aug. 7 (2018) that the company decided to build an olefin production facility capable of producing 700,000 tons of ethylene per year and 500,000 tons of polyethylene annually by investing about 2 trillion won ($1.8 billion) in a 430,000-square-meter site near its second plant in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province.
11th Nov 2022 | GS Caltex completes construction of $2 billion petrochemicals manufacturing plant.
GS Caltex completed the construction of its 2.7-trillion-won ($2 billion) petrochemicals manufacturing plant in Yeosu, South Jeolla.
The newly-built production plant, a mixed feed cracker (MFC), will mainly produce olefins such as ethylene and polyethylene. Olefins are widely used as raw materials for plastics, rubbers and chemical products.
The MFC will annually produce 750,000 tons of ethylene, 500,000 tons of polyethylene, 410,000 tons of propylene, 240,000 tons of mixed C4 raffinate and 410,000 tons of pyrolysis gasoline, according to GS Caltex.
Unlike naphtha crackers, which uses only naphtha for petrochemicals production, MFCs can use not only naphtha but other feedstock such as liquid petroleum gas and refinery off-gas, which are crude refining byproducts. The facility can also produce hydrogen using naphtha and refinery off-gas, replacing the previously-used liquefied natural gas, and therefore cut carbon emissions by 76,000 tons a year, said GS Caltex.
4th Jul 2024 | Korea’s GS Caltex to debottleneck Yeosu cracker in Sep
The cracker will undergo a turnaround and debottlenecking from 23 September to 25 November, according to sources at the company. GS Caltex's mixed-feed cracker currently has a nameplate capacity of 750,000 t/yr of ethylene and 410,000 t/yr of propylene. Its ethylene capacity will increase by 150,000 t/yr to 900,000 t/yr after the debottlenecking process, while propylene capacity will rise by 60,000 t/yr to 470,000 t/yr.
The debottlenecking process will also raise GS Caltex's crude C4s output from the existing 250,000 t/yr to 300,000 t/yr. The company now feeds its crude C4s to a 90,000 t/yr butadiene extraction unit, a joint venture (JV) plant between GS Caltex's parent company GS Energy and fellow producer Lotte Chemical.
GS Caltex also owns two polymers units at the same site — a 500,000 t/yr high density polyethylene (HDPE) and a 180,000 t/yr polypropylene (PP) plant. The PP unit takes in propylene from GS Caltex's existing refinery fluid catalytic crackers (FCC).
The debottlenecking will raise olefins output, resulting in a surplus of 400,000 t/yr of ethylene for domestic sales and exports after supplying its HDPE plant. The propylene surplus will be 800,000 t/yr after factoring in GS Caltex's 500,000 t/yr propylene output from existing FCCs and its PP consumption.
This will also mark the first turnaround of GS Caltex's cracker since it was commissioned in 2021. GS Caltex's mixed feed cracker can take in a combination of naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas and off-gas from its FCC.
#olefinsplan #mixedfeedcracker #steamcracker #yeosun #gscaltex #southkorea
