Hanwha Total restarts Daesan cracker after strike

South Korean petrochemical producer Hanwha Total yesterday restarted its 1.09mn t/yr Daesan-based naphtha cracker.

Hanwha Total continued maintenance on the cracker from 27 March, amid a workers' strike that ran from 23 March to 28 May. The maintenance was supposed to end on 6 May, but the restart of the cracker and its derivative units were delayed by the strike and a lack of manpower.

Hanwha Total had been preparing to return to normal operations since the strike ended but needed more time than usual to restart the cracker because of the extended shutdown.

The producer had also failed several times to restart the cracker since attempts were first made on 8 June. Hanwha Total then attempted to restart the unit yesterday and was able to produce on-specification ethylene. It now plans to slowly ramp up operations.

The latest maintenance coincided with a 350,000 t/yr expansion of the cracker, with plans to bring the new capacity on line in August after achieving smooth operations at the unit.