Merger
HD Hyundai Chemical absorbed Lotte Chemical's Daesan unit to form H&L Advanced, launched at the Daesan plant on 4 September 2026.
Daesan is a petrochemical complex in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, on the Yellow Sea coast. HD Hyundai Oilbank, which is headquartered in Seosan, and the merged H&L Advanced petrochemical business operate there, so process areas are Zone 1 and Zone 2. Distribution partners for Daesan are being identified ahead of the Q4 2026 launch of the IS-04Z1.
Pre-launch · certification in progress · Launching Q4 2026
Short answer. Daesan has no appointed SAMS distributor yet: the IS-04Z1 is pre-launch (certification in progress, no certificate issued, launch planned for Q4 2026), and distributor applications are open.
Status: pre-launch. IECEx, ATEX, UKEX and NEC 500 certification is in progress and no certificate has been issued; launch is planned for Q4 2026. Operator approval runs on its own timeline. Certification status. Place facts reviewed October 2026.
| Check | What to look for | IS-04Z1 today |
|---|---|---|
| Ex marking | Group, category, protection concept, gas group, temperature class | II 2 G Ex ib IIC T4 (target) |
| Gas group | IIA, IIB or IIC matched to the area drawing | IIC (target) |
| Temperature class | T-class below the ignition temperature of the gas | T4, 135 °C (target) |
| Where it applies | Daesan: Tank farms, Hydrogen handling, Naphtha cracker and petrochemical units | Classified by the site operator |

An intrinsically safe Android smartphone designed for Zone 1 and Zone 21 hazardous areas in Daesan. It is pre-launch: IECEx, ATEX and NEC 500 certification is in progress ahead of the Q4 2026 launch.
A short profile of the site and the kinds of classified area that matter for portable equipment.
HD Hyundai Chemical absorbed Lotte Chemical's Daesan unit to form H&L Advanced, launched at the Daesan plant on 4 September 2026.
HD Hyundai Oilbank and Lotte Chemical each hold 50% and each contributed 600 billion won.
HD Hyundai Chemical is owned 60% by HD Hyundai Oilbank and 40% by Lotte Chemical, and in late 2025 the partners agreed to consolidate their Daesan naphtha crackers, subject to ministry approval.
Seosan had a population of roughly 175,000 in the 2017 census, which sets the scale of the local labour pool beside the coastal industrial area.
Daesan lies within Seosan city on the Yellow Sea coast of South Chungcheong Province, about 125 km south of Seoul and 34 km north-west of Naepo New Town.
The Daesan refining and petrochemical platform is a 50/50 joint venture between Hanwha and TotalEnergies, commissioned in 1991 and covering about 3.3 million square metres, making fuels and polymers on one integrated site.
“Ex-proof” is shorthand for equipment carrying an explosion-protection marking (the Ex mark) that matches the area it enters. The marking states the protection concept, gas or dust group and temperature class, and it must be backed by a certificate issued by a recognised body, so a phone described as Ex-proof should come with a certificate number you can check.
The IS-04Z1 is designed to carry the marking II 2 G Ex ib IIC T4. That is a target: certification is in progress, no certificate has been issued, and SAMS will publish the certificate numbers when they exist.
In Daesan. Process areas are Zone 1 and Zone 2, and hydrogen handling is present. Hydrogen is Group IIC, so a marking check should look at the gas group as well as zone and temperature class. The IS-04Z1 target marking, II 2 G Ex ib IIC T4, includes IIC but has not been issued.
Distribution of the IS-04Z1 is by authorised partners only, and SAMS has not yet granted a territory for Daesan. Each application is reviewed on its merits. Because opening a certified Ex handset in an ordinary workshop invalidates its certificate, the partner must be able to support and service the device locally.
Not yet. The IS-04Z1 is pre-launch and its certification is still in progress ahead of a Q4 2026 launch. No unit goes into a classified area before the certificate covering it exists. The datasheet, the certification schedule and safe-area evaluation units are available now.
SAMS has not published a price. Any figure you are offered for an uncertified Ex phone should be treated with caution; written indicative pricing is available for a defined quantity and site.
The marking target is II 2 G Ex ib IIC T4. It becomes a marking only when the certificate is issued; until then it is a design target.
Likely candidates are naphtha cracker and petrochemical units, refinery process units, tank farms, hydrogen handling. Which areas are classified, and to what zone, is set by the site operator's own area classification drawings.
Apply through the distributor page with your company details and the territory you cover. SAMS reviews applications company by company and has not yet granted a territory for Daesan.
Each plant sets its own rules for portable electronics and controls entry with permits and inductions. Typically only devices with the certification the operator specifies are allowed in classified areas, so confirm the requirement with the plant's safety department first.
A transport hub location helps, since expressways link it to Seoul and Daejeon, so replacements can usually arrive within a day or two. Confirm lead times with your supplier and keep spare batteries and chargers on site for continuous operations.
Daesan now has H&L Advanced, a merged petrochemical business owned half each by HD Hyundai Oilbank and Lotte Chemical, alongside the refinery operator HD Hyundai Oilbank. Procurement routes may still be changing. Confirm requirements with the site operator before sending documents.
More on Daesan, and on other places in South Korea.
Send the site, zone and gas group and roughly how many handsets. We reply by email with the datasheet and the certification schedule.
Tell us the zone, gas group and operator. We will send the datasheet and the certification schedule.