0M USD
Total polymer revenueAS OF 2025
GS CALTEX BUSINESS — CHAPTER 04
980,000 tons a year, from HIPRENE in 1988 to MFC —
the fourth chapter: gas becomes material.
The double bonds olefins left behind now join hands. One alone is a gas — tens of thousands, linked, become a material.
ORIGIN
From the Greek poly (many) and meros (parts) — a polymer is literally something made of many pieces. The Korean term, 중합체, says the same: matter joined again and again.
A single ethylene is just a gas molecule. Link tens of thousands into a chain, and it becomes something else entirely — film, containers, car parts. Chemistry where pieces add up to properties.
01 — MONOMER
The ethylene and propylene from the last chapter are just reactive gas molecules. Alone, they can be neither container nor film. To become material, they must connect.
01 — POLYMERIZATION
Catalysts like Ziegler-Natta and metallocene open the double bond and link it to the next molecule — a chain growing like beads on a string. This is polymerization. Which catalyst, and how it strings them, decides stiffness, clarity and flex.
01 — PELLET
Fully grown chains bundle into pellets — the rice of petrochemicals. Melted down, these grains become food containers, car bumpers, films and pipes.
POLYMER 980K TONS / YR02 — CAPACITY
The newest line, on stream since 2022 with MFC — the most widely used plastic in daily life.
PP and PE formulated with rubber, fillers and additives for stiffness, flame resistance or paintability — with Korea-first paintable and LFT materials.
One of the five commodity resins, 24% of all thermoplastics used — the original business, with Korea-first bottle and foaming grades.
03 — HERITAGE
The polymer business began in 1988 — nearly four decades of accumulation, and a trail of Korea-firsts under the HIPRENE name.
04 — GLOBAL
Total polymer revenueAS OF 2025
Annual sales volumeAS OF 2025
Overseas subsidiariesCHINA ×2 · CZECHIA · MEXICO
Here the petrochemical story pauses for breath. Next up: base oil — born from the heaviest oil, cast in the smoothest role.