Lotte, two SK Group units to join hands for carbon capture

Lotte Chemical Corp., SK Innovation Co. and SK IE Technology Co. (SK IET) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to make their joint push into the carbon capture market, the three companies said on Monday.

Under the MOU, they will collaborate to develop and invest in carbon capture technologies for high-performance separator membrane development, while exploring new areas where those technologies can be used.

SK Innovation and SK IET have been accelerating their advance into the carbon capture, utilization and storage market.

To that end, they have adopted lithium-ion battery separator (LiBS) technology to achieve “All Time Net Zero,” a goal aimed at offsetting by 2062 all the carbon dioxide they have emitted since the two companies were established.

Last May, the two SK Group units made a joint investment in Air Rane, a gas separator membrane developer to pioneer the technologies of membranes used for carbon separation and capture from air.

Since 2021 Lotte Chemical has operated a carbon capture demonstration facility at its Yeosu petrochemical complex. It manufactures synthetic resins and other chemical products.

Last year, Lotte completed the design of a carbon capture process for gas separator membranes suitable for the petrochemical industry. It was the first time for a domestic chemical company to design the process for commercialization.

It is now verifying the technologies and examining their business potential.

The MOU will allow the three companies to combine SK Innovation’s R&D capabilities, SK IET’s separator membrane technology and Lotte Chemical’s carbon capture technology to create synergy, said Kang Dongsoo, head of SK Innovation's portfolio division.

Write to Mi-Sun Kang at sunny@hankyung.com
 


Yeonhee Kim edited this article.