LG Chem splashes $94 million on water treatment facility

LG Chem will invest 124.6 billion won ($94.1 million) to expand its manufacturing facility for the key filter membrane product used to turn seawater to fresh water.

LG Chem employees check the company's filter membrane products at its Cheongju plant in North Chungcheong. [LG CHEM]

LG Chem will invest 124.6 billion won ($94 million) to expand its manufacturing facility for the key filter membrane product used to turn seawater into fresh water.

The facility, which will be located in Cheongju, North Chungcheong, will have an annual capacity of 400,000 reverse osmosis membranes, which is equivalent to turning around 1.57 billion tons of seawater into fresh water every year.

That covers the amount of water needed for 16 million people in Korea, or a third of its population, LG Chem said.

Reverse osmosis is a process that removes solids such as salt from water.

LG Chem's reverse osmosis membranes deliver the industry's highest level of salt rejection with the ability to remove 99.85 percent of salts from the water, it said.

Expansion will be completed by July 2025. The Cheongju membrane factory will operate 100 percent on renewable energy by 2030, LG Chem added.

In May, LG Chem was chosen to exclusively provide filters for one of the five largest projects in Israel for turning seawater into fresh water.

LG Chem is currently the No. 2 player in the global reverse osmosis membranes market. Around 1.86 billion tons of water have been turned into fresh water through the company's products worldwide. That is approximately 5.1 million tons per day.

The world's wastewater filter market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 3.9 percent to reach 6.4 trillion won by 2024, according to data by Global Water Intelligence.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]