Kumho Petrochemical said on the 15th that, together with Seoyon E-Hwa and Hyundai Motor researchers (the joint research team), it won the 12th-week IR52 Jang Young Sil Award in 2026 for advancing recycled ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) plastic into an interior automotive material.
The Jang Young Sil Award is one of the most prestigious industrial technology honors, comprehensively evaluating technological innovation, marketability, and economic ripple effects by experts from academia and government agencies. Kumho Petrochemical has won six times since 1996, and this is its first award in the energy and environment category.
The achievement stems from developing heat-resistant ABS using recycled ABS collected from discarded appliances such as TVs and refrigerators and successfully applying it to mass production of finished vehicles in Korea for the first time. Conventional recycled ABS faced limited use in high-quality industries such as automotive due to degradation, foreign matter contamination, and property variation.
To overcome these limitations, Kumho Petrochemical developed heat-resistant ABS by applying material design based on heat-resistant SAN (Styrene Acrylonitrile copolymer) and precision compounding technology. Given the nature of recycled materials, there were challenges such as large quality variations that left properties unstable even under the same conditions.
Kumho Petrochemical evaluated more than 50 types of recycled materials, improved quality with suppliers, and added data analysis to find the optimal material combination. The newly developed heat-resistant ABS applies more than 20% recycled feedstock and reduces carbon emissions by about 16%. It then met the standards required for automotive parts, leading to actual mass production of auto components.
A Kumho Petrochemical official said, "This achievement is a case of converting recycled materials from simple substitutes into structural materials that meet performance standards," adding, "Amid the broader trend in which the use of recycled materials is becoming essential, we will lead the high value-added materials market."