Samsung Total Petrochemicals’ (Daesan / South Korea; www.samsungtotal.com) aromatics project in Daesan is on track to begin operations in 2014 – see Plasteurope.com of 13.01.2012. The company has selected technologies from UOP (Des Plaines, Illinois / USA; www.uop.com) for the project, which will have the capacity to produce 1m t/y of PX and 500,000 t/y of benzene.

UOP, a Honeywell company, said that using its new technologies will enable Samsung Total to reduce energy consumption by 33%, as well as cutting greenhouse gas emissions, compared with earlier designs. UOP will also provide engineering design, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment and technical services for the project.

The additional production of PET feedstock PX and benzene will help meet rising demand for synthetic fibres and resins in the region. Industry experts predict that demand for PX in northeast Asia could rise by as much as 80% over the next five years, UOP said. The integrated aromatics complex will use UOP’s “Parex", “Sulfolane”, “Tatoray”, “Isomar” and “CCR Platforming” processes to produce high-purity PX and benzene.

Samsung Total, which is a 50:50 joint venture between Samsung (Seoul / South Korea; www.samsung.com) and Total (Paris / France; www.total.com), will also produce diesel and jet fuel based on UOP technologies at the complex.