The Korean chemical firm has secured a mass production system for recycled raw materials and PET from Shuye, a Chinese company specialising in green materials
SK Chemicals acquires mass production system for recycled raw materials and PET. (Credit: charlesdeluvio on Unsplash)
South Korean chemical firm SK Chemicals has entered into an asset purchase agreement worth $100m with China-based Shuye Environmental Technologies.
The board of directors have cleared the transfer agreement related to the chemically recycled BHET and chemically recycled Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) business division of Shuye.
Shuye specialises in green materials and has PET depolymerisation technology facilities and expertise.
The Korean firm will expand its business with chemically recycled BHET (r-BHET) of 70,000MT and chemically recycled PET (CR-PET) of 50,000MT production systems.
The deal consists of a depolymerisation plant that chemically decomposes waste plastics to produce r-BHET.
It also includes a CR-PET production plant that utilises the produced r-BHET to make PET again, which can be sold individually.
SK Chemicals now owns the world’s first commercially available polyester chemically recycled raw materials and production facility, which can be sold separately.
The chemical firm claims that the acquisition of Shuye’s assets has granted a production system that is ahead of other domestic companies.
It has plans to supply chemically recycled PET to the domestic and overseas beverage bottle and food packaging markets.
SK Chemicals is anticipated to achieve a high level of price competitiveness by creating recycled plastic raw materials such as waste PET in China, where there is an abundant supply.
With the help of this investment, SK Chemicals has completed the value chain for recycled plastic, which includes chemically recycled BHET, chemically recycled PET, and chemically recycled copolyester (CR-Copolyester).
This establishes the foundation for future expansion and ensures the sustainability of its copolyester business.
SK Chemicals wants to dominate the $7.6bn global market by entering high-value-added segments such as industrial speciality fibres.
Additionally, the business intends to offer the chemically recycled BHET as a stand-alone product to polyester producers who want to create recycled items.
The company is also working on the development of depolymerisation technology to produce r-TPA for the recycled plastic industry.