Reliance starts MEG unit trial runs after month-long delay

25 May 2005 11:46  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (CNI)--India's Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has started trial runs at its 80,000 tonne/year monoethlyene glycol (MEG) plant at Kukumbh, in the western state of Maharashtra, after a month-long delay, a company official told CNI on Wednesday.

The plant's restart was delayed twice from mid-April but the official said the plant finally started trial runs on Wednesday after all the necessary refurbishing was completed.

The plant, which was acquired from SM Dyechem in January, had been shut since 1996 due to financial problems faced by its previous owner.

The official said that the plant would start producing on-spec material in about a week. He added that the company  would take a few months to ramp up the operating rate to 100% of capacity, "to minimise operational problems as the plant has been shut for the past nine years."

About 80% of the output from the plant would be used captively at Reliance's polyester units in Patalganga, Maharashtra while the remainder would be sold on the domestic spot market, the official said.

With this additional capacity, Reliance's total MEG capacity would be raised to nearly 850,000 tonne/year, he added. 

By: Caroline Sin
+65 6780 4359

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