Hyosung Advanced Materials said on Feb. 11 that it will invest 46.8 billion won to expand its carbon fiber production plant in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province.
According to the company, the expansion will be completed by 2020 by adding production lines to the existing sites to increase the annual production from the current 2,000 tons to 4,000 tons.
The expansion is designed to prepare for the increase in demand for hydrogen and compressed natural gas (CNG) cars, which are considered as a future eco-friendly vehicle, and carbon fiber, the company explained.
Carbon fiber is used to manufacture hydrogen fuel tanks and CNG high-pressure containers, which are key components of hydrogen cars. The company expects the demand for hydrogen fuel tanks to grow by 120 times and that for CNG containers to grow by more than 4 times by 2030.
Hyosung previously released TANSOME, the high-performance carbon fiber brand, which was developed in South Korea for the first time in 2011, since it started developing carbon fiber in 2007. In addition, it has been operating a carbon fiber factory in the eco-friendly complex industrial estate in Jeonju since May 2013.
