[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyewon] Lee Seongjun, Chief Technology Officer of SK Innovation's Environmental Science and Technology Institute, presented SK Innovation's innovative technologies and efforts to solve environmental problems at the 'International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization (hereafter ICCDU)' held at KAIST University in Daejeon on the 21st.
ICCDU is the largest international conference in the field of carbon dioxide utilization, which began in 1991. Leading global scholars present and share the latest research status on emerging carbon dioxide utilization.
Lee introduced the contents that SK Innovation is intensively researching and developing. In particular, he focused on ▲CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilization Storage) technology that captures carbon dioxide to prevent its release into the atmosphere and stores it underground or under the seabed ▲pyrolysis oil and depolymerization technologies that recycle waste plastics ▲BMR (Battery Metal Recycle) technology that extracts key minerals from waste batteries.
These technologies are core to SK Innovation's transition of its business structure from refining and petrochemicals to eco-friendly businesses.
Especially, CCUS technology is considered essential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Based on independently developed technology, SK Innovation is already participating in domestic and international CCUS projects, garnering industry expectations to solve carbon dioxide issues.
Since May this year, SK Innovation has decided to undertake a national project to promote CCS business utilizing the Donghae gas field of the Korea National Oil Corporation. The goal is to store 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually in the Donghae gas field, where natural gas production will end in June next year, starting from 2025.
SK Innovation also participates in the REALISE project underway in the European Union (EU). Through this project, it aims to develop next-generation absorbents for capturing carbon dioxide at refineries, develop tools to verify and utilize carbon dioxide capture technology, and secure capabilities for economic evaluation of CCS technology. This project runs until April 2023 and involves 14 EU and 2 Chinese industry-academia-research institutions.
To address the waste plastic problem, SK Innovation is implementing the '3R' strategy: Recycle, Replace, and Reduce.
According to Lee, SK Innovation has developed proprietary technology to replace existing chemical materials with eco-friendly materials. They have already commercialized eco-friendly PE wrap that can replace PVC. Packaging and containers made of mixed plastics have been unified into a single material to facilitate recycling.
Additionally, they are developing packaging products that reduce plastic usage and technologies that reduce plastic use itself by using lightweight materials for automobiles.
Regarding plastic recycling, they are developing pyrolysis oil technology that heats waste plastics to recover raw materials. Currently, pyrolysis oil is only used as fuel for industrial boilers, but they plan to improve its quality to be used as raw materials in petrochemical plants. Alongside this, they are actively developing depolymerization technology that can recycle contaminated PET bottles and clothing, which are currently incinerated or landfilled.
They have also secured technology to recover lithium hydroxide (LiOH) from waste batteries. Lee explained that by prioritizing lithium separation from waste batteries, it becomes easier to extract other key minerals such as nickel, cobalt, and manganese.
Lee said, "Based on ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management, we are transforming our business portfolio from carbon business to green-centered business (Carbon to Green) for sustainable survival and growth. To this end, we plan to develop innovative technologies and collaborate globally with industry and academia to solve environmental issues."
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