SK Ecoplant enters bioenergy sector with waste-to-fuel tech

South Korea's SK Ecoplant Co. will supply fuel made from the conversion of food waste.

The company on Thursday said it entered the bioenergy market after signing a business agreement the day before at its Seoul headquarters with Hongbo Energy on the verification and commercialization of technology to produce high-quality biogas.

Hongbo Energy is a resource recycling company based in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, with the country's largest private facility for biogasification. Daesang Group acquired the company last year to strengthen the conglomerate's eco-friendly management and promote new and renewable energy.

Biogas upgrading is a technology that refines biogas generated in the process of treating organic waste such as that from food, sewage residue and livestock manure for reuse as fuel. Though biogas was used in the past, it faced limits such as failed conversion to energy or utilization as low-efficiency thermal energy.

The company said the quality upgrading technology can create renewable natural gas (RNG) from waste similar to natural gas without loss of energy.

SK Ecoplant will demonstrate the technology at a business site owned by Hongbo Energy and promote RNG production and sales.

The RNG produced is supplied to meet nearby demand as city and compressed natural gas.

"Biogas upgrading is a groundbreaking technology that achieves conversion of waste into energy," said Kim Byung-kwon, head of SK Ecoplant's Eco Lab Center. "Amid growing interest in alternative energy sources due to soaring global energy prices, we will contribute to resolving social problems through technological advancement as a leading environmental company in the country."

Write to Jong-Pil Park at jp@hankyung.com