South Korea's LG Chem plans to boost its production capacity of crude acrylic acid and super absorbent polymer at Yeosu by 34.6% and 25%, respectively, by the first half of 2019, the company said Tuesday.
It will spend Won 300 billion ($279 million) to increase crude acrylic acid production by 180,000 mt/year to 700,000 my/year and super absorbent polymer output capacity by 100,000 mt/year to 500,000 mt/year.
The expansion was aimed at strengthening the vertical integration of its propylene chain, the company said.
Crude acrylic acid is made from propylene and oxygen, and is the raw material for super absorbent polymer, paints and adhesives.
LG Chem has been trying to increase production of value-added products in the basic materials sector.
In 2018, the company will more than triple its production of elastomers at Daesan from 90,000 mt/year to 290,000 mt/year, using LG Chem's proprietary metallocene catalyst technology for producing ethylene-based elastomers.
Also at Daesan, in Q2 2019, the company plans to expand its ethylene production capacity to 1.27 million mt/year from 1 million mt/year currently.
