Major expansion and upgrade project at Samsung Total Petrochemicals’ complex in Daesan  

Total S.A. (Paris, France; www.total.com) is consolidating its positions in petrochemicals in Asia with a new expansion and upgrading project for the Daesan complex in South Korea, which the Group owns with Samsung as part of the Samsung Total Petrochemicals 50/50 joint venture. With costs approaching $1.8 billion, the project calls for the construction of a second aromatics1 unit and an ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer unit at the Daesan petrochemical complex.  The new aromatics unit will have a production capacity of around 1 million metric tons (m.t.) of p-xylene and 420,000 m.t. of benzene per year and will be completed by September 2014. P-xylene is used to manufacture polyester, while benzene is used to produce petrochemical products such as styrene. With the completion of the aromatics unit in 2014 and the upgrade of existing paraxylene capacity in 2012, total p-xylene production capacity will be increased to 1.76 million m.t.  The new EVA unit will produce 240,000 m.t./yr of ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers. This resin is used in products such as electrical cables, adhesives and solar panels. Environmentally friendly and versatile, EVA is expected to see continued growth in demand. A pdf file is not available…