0M USD
Total polymer revenueAS OF 2025
GS CALTEX BUSINESS — CHAPTER 04
From ethylene and propylene to industrial materials —
a polymer capacity of 980,000 tons a year.
Basic petrochemicals such as ethylene and propylene pass through polymerization to become polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) and other polymer products.
ORIGIN
Polymer comes from the Greek poly, meaning many, and meros, meaning part. It refers to a macromolecule formed as small molecules called monomers bond together repeatedly.
01 — MONOMER
Ethylene and propylene are the representative monomers used to produce polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
01 — POLYMERIZATION
Monomers react with a catalyst and are converted into long-chain macromolecules. Depending on the catalyst and process conditions, properties such as rigidity, clarity and flexibility can be tailored.
01 — PELLET
Polymerized product is a mass of countless tangled chains. It is extruded, cooled and cut into rice-grain-sized pellets, which then go through various processing steps to become film, containers, pipes, automotive parts and more.
02 — CAPACITY
Polyethylene (PE) is a leading synthetic resin made by polymerizing ethylene. GS Caltex applies CPChem's Advanced Dual Loop (ADL) process to produce 500,000 tons a year of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), used across everyday goods, packaging, pipes, and construction and industrial materials.
Compound resin is made by blending rubber, fillers and additives into PP and other synthetic resins to engineer the properties a specific use requires. Its range of stiffness, impact resistance and heat resistance makes it suitable for automotive interior and exterior parts, appliance components and more.
Polypropylene (PP) is a leading synthetic resin made by polymerizing propylene. GS Caltex has produced polypropylene since 1988 and today has a capacity of 180,000 tons a year, with products engineered for a wide range of uses and properties — from automotive interior and exterior parts and appliance components to food containers, film and fiber.
03 — TECHNOLOGY
Drawing on R&D capabilities built up over decades in the polymer business, GS Caltex develops high-performance materials engineered for diverse uses and customer needs.
GS Caltex also develops eco-friendly materials that add new value to discarded resources, realizing resource circulation and contributing to the Green Transformation (GX) of the materials industry.
High-performance materials
LFT (Long Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastics) is a composite material reinforced with long fibers to enhance a thermoplastic resin's mechanical and thermal properties. Its strength and light weight make it a metal-replacement material used in automotive parts and other applications.
TPE (Thermoplastic Elastomer) combines the elasticity of rubber with the processability of plastic. With excellent flexibility, resilience and moldability, it is used across a wide range of industries, from home appliances to automobiles and robots.
Eco-friendly materials
A compound resin produced using mechanically recycled feedstock from waste plastic. GS Caltex has produced low-carbon MR compound resin since 2010 and continues to develop and expand supply of high-quality recycled materials made from end-of-life automotive, appliance and household plastics. In 2025, it became the first in Asia to earn RecyClass certification across the entire value chain for end-of-life vehicle plastic materials.
A sustainable polymer produced by using chemically recycled feedstock derived from various wastes, such as waste plastic and waste oil, together with conventional feedstock. Based on ISCC PLUS certification, GS Caltex systematically manages the amount of recycled feedstock input and its allocation to products, contributing to resource circulation and the low-carbon transition while maintaining excellent properties and processability.
04 — HISTORY
05 — GLOBAL
GS Caltex has strengthened the global competitiveness of its compound resin business by establishing overseas production subsidiaries in China and Czechia, building on its domestic production base and R&D capabilities. We continue to expand local production and supply capacity to meet the demand of global automotive, appliance and other customers.
Total polymer revenueAS OF 2025
Annual sales volumeAS OF 2025
Overseas subsidiariesCHINA ×2 · CZECHIA
The feedstocks born in refining also lead on to high-quality base oil. The next chapter follows the base oil business, which uses unconverted oil from the refinery's upgrading process to produce the foundational feedstock of premium lubricants.