Petrochemical in South Korea. Approximate location 35.45455, 129.33899.
PetrochemicalSouth KoreaCO₂ estimate (modelled)
KPIC Onsan Plant, Ulsan is a petrochemical in South Korea. Its listed capacity is 900,000 t of ethylene. Petrochemical plants crack hydrocarbons at very high temperatures to produce ethylene, propylene and other building-block chemicals — one of the most heat-intensive industrial processes. It is operated by Korea Petrochemical Industries Corp. By capacity it ranks #5 among 8 petrochemical plants in South Korea. It emits about 1,220,591 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE, roughly comparable to the annual emissions of 285k passenger cars.
Facility data: Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0), id ct-731968.
Source data, measured cross-checks and calculated values are kept separate. No confidence percentage is invented.
Same Climate TRACE subsector; closest non-placeholder modelled CO₂e values. Russia and Belarus excluded.
PowerAtlas operating assets, ordered by great-circle distance from published coordinates.
At 900,000 t of ethylene, KPIC Onsan Plant, Ulsan is below the median petrochemical in South Korea (1,230,000 t of ethylene). Subsector: petrochemical-steam-cracking. As petrochemical, it requires high process heat (typically 300–800°C) for its core industrial operations — heat that must be supplied by boilers, furnaces or direct combustion, and losses through uninsulated vessels and piping represent wasted fuel. Removable modular insulation can cut those losses by 80–96%, surface-cooling equipment to ≤45°C, with payback often under 2 years. Petrochemical plants crack hydrocarbons at very high temperatures to produce ethylene, propylene and other building-block chemicals — one of the most heat-intensive industrial processes.
Capacity & CO₂-intensity comparison computed from Climate TRACE industrial facilities data; sector role based on engineering reference.
This facility's estimated annual CO₂e (Climate TRACE, modelled) in everyday equivalents from the US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculator:
Equivalencies: US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies. Emissions: Climate TRACE.
At its reported 1.2M t CO₂e/yr (Scope 1), KPIC Onsan Plant, Ulsan carries no domestic carbon price; petrochemicals are not a CBAM-covered good, so there is no border-carbon liability. At the EU ETS reference price (€75/t) the emissions carry an indicative carbon value of €92.0M/yr. The fastest decarbonization lever is energy efficiency: eliminating heat loss on hot equipment (removable insulation, steam & waste-heat recovery) typically cuts 2–5% of fuel-related CO₂ — here ≈24k t–61k t/yr, worth €1.8M–€4.6M, with payback up to 2 years. No domestic carbon price — but cement, steel, aluminium, fertilizer and hydrogen exported to the EU face CBAM at €75/t (rising to 100% by 2034).
Carbon price: EU CBAM €75/t · EU ETS €79/t, July 2, 2026, refreshed live via Carbon Hub. CO₂: Climate TRACE. Efficiency range: US DOE / ASTM C680 (method). Indicative carbon value, not the cash bill — free allocation applies; not compliance advice. Estimate the saving for this site →
Listed capacity (t of ethylene), Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Korea Petrochemical Industries Corp.
KPIC Onsan Plant, Ulsan sits in a humid subtropical climate zone (Köppen Cfa), at 35.5°N in the northern hemisphere.
Köppen zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).
The local climate sets how fast unprotected steel, protective coatings and the insulation on hot process equipment degrade at this site. It sits in a corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.
In this site’s local climate, a bare 150 °C surface sheds about 1356 W/m² to ambient — roughly 1.04× the loss at a 20 °C reference; removable insulation recovers about 1288 W/m² of that. Reference-surface calculation at a 150 °C surface from WorldClim climate normals (ASTM C680 / ISO 12241) — an indicative per-climate comparison, not a measurement of this site’s specific equipment. Open method dataset: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20787408 (CC BY 4.0).
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #5 largest of 8 petrochemical plants in South Korea by listed capacity (Climate TRACE).
Coordinates 35.45455, 129.33899. View on OpenStreetMap.
For a petrochemical, the main modular-insulation targets are steam crackers, quench towers, fractionators, heat exchangers, steam lines, valves & flanges. Typical hot-surface ranges used for screening: 150–550 °C.
Start with a thermal survey of valves, flanges, doors and bends. Removable modular insulation keeps maintenance access open while lowering exposed-surface temperature and wasted heat.
For energy-efficiency projects around process heat, likely external funding channels include:
Sources: country climate-finance facilities and public development-bank programmes.
KPIC Onsan Plant, Ulsan is a petrochemical in South Korea. Petrochemical plants crack hydrocarbons at very high temperatures to produce ethylene, propylene and other building-block chemicals — one of the most heat-intensive industrial processes.
The open dataset lists 900,000 t of ethylene of capacity for KPIC Onsan Plant, Ulsan.
The page uses about 1,220,591 t CO₂e/year from the open dataset It ranks #22 among facilities in South Korea by estimated CO₂.
KPIC Onsan Plant, Ulsan is in South Korea at approximately 35.45455, 129.33899.
The operator recorded in the open dataset is Korea Petrochemical Industries Corp.
