Hyosung TNC investing $1bn to establish bio-butanediol plant in Vietnam

Seoul – Hyosung TNC has unveiled plans to invest $1 billion (€940 million) in a new production facility to manufacture bio-based butanediol (bio-BDO) in Vietnam.

The textile arm of Korea's Hyosung group said it received investment approval for the project from the local government of Ria-Vung Tau in southern Vietnam at the end of March.

Under phase I, the company intends to reach a production capacity of 50 kilotonnes per annum (ktpa) of bio-BDO by 2026, with plans to further expand output to 200ktpa.

Among other applications, BDO (butanediol) is used as a feedstock material for polyurethane-based elastic fibres, footwear soles, industrial compounds and engineering polymers.

With the Vietnam plant, Hyosung TNC aims to build “the world’s first fully-integrated production system" for bio-based elastic fibres – covering all processes from raw materials production to fibres manufacture.

As part of the process, the company said it will deploy at scale a technology, developed by the US-based bio-tech and sustainable material company Geno.

Hyosung TNC recently formed a technology partnership with Geno, through which it has gained licenses for its Geno BDO technology.

The US firm commercialised the bio-BDO technology in 2016 and has been scaling it across the EU, US, and now Asian markets.

The "fully proven" technology is claimed to offer an estimated 90% carbon avoidance, which stated Hyosung "is the order of magnitude of avoiding 10 tonnes/Co2 for every 1 tonne of CO2."

The technology is also claimed to provide "competitive economics" compared to conventional fossil-based BDO in the market.

Bio-BDO is manufactured by fermenting sugars derived from sugarcane, replacing traditional fossil raw materials by 100%.

Hyosung TNC said it expects to attract “significant attention in the sustainable materials market” with the bio-based materials.