SK geo centric completes consultation with U.S. partner

SK geo centric completed technical consultation with a U.S. chemical recycling start-up for its upcoming recycling plant in Ulsan, the company said Friday.

SK geo centric recently visited PureCycle Technologies’ recycling plant in Ironton, Ohio, for a technological consultation to optimize the chemical recycling process.

PureCycle is an Orlando, Florida-based plastic recycling company. SK geo centric formed a strategic partnership with the company with a $55 million equity investment last year and signed a joint venture contract in October.

The two companies plan to build a recycling plant in Ulsan using PureCycle’s ultra-pure polypropylene extraction technology, which extracts transparent polypropylene even from colored plastics through chemical processing.

During the consultation, SK geo centric and PureCycle discussed measures to optimize the processing technology for discarded plastic feedstock in Korea, as properties and purity of waste plastic differ based on region.

“The two companies have enhanced their understanding of technology and optimized the recycling process plan to suit the nature of waste plastics in Korea,” said Kim Jong-hwa, SK geo centric vice president.

SK geo centric will break ground for the 215,000-square-meter (53-acre) plastic recycling plant this year and begin commercial operation in 2026. When completed, the plant will have an annual recycling capacity of 250,000 tons.

SK geo centric is working with PureCycle as well as Loop Industries, a Canadian company, for the 1.7 trillion won ($1.3 billion) plastic recycling project.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]