Alpek, Indorama, FENC JV to resume US PET project in August

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Alpek, Indorama and FENC announced earlier today that Corpus Christi Polymers (CCP) will resume construction on the facility in August. The plant is expected to begin production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) in early 2025.

Construction of the state-of-the-art plant is resuming following a period of pandemic-related disruptions.

The new facility is expected to be the largest vertically integrated PTA-PET production plant in the Americas, with annual capacities of 1.1m tonnes of PET and 1.3m tonnes of PTA. It will employ three state-of-the-art technologies: PTA: IntegRex; PET melt: Invista; and PET solid state: Easy Up (HCIRR – horizontal continuous slightly inclined rotary reactor).

The plant’s vertical integration optimises PTA-PET production and ensures additional capacities are available to the PTA and PET markets.

Russell Wilson will leave his role with IVL as Head of Manufacturing Americas, Combined PET, to take up a new role as CEO of CCP from 18 July.

PET resins can be broadly classified into bottle, fibre or film grade, named according to the downstream applications. Bottle grade resin is the most commonly traded form of PET resin and it is used in bottle and container packaging through blow molding and thermoforming. Fibre grade resin goes into making polyester fibre, while film grade resin is used in electrical and flexible packaging applications.

PET can be compounded with glass fibre for the production of engineering plastics.

DAK Americas, Indorama, Nan Ya Plastics Corporation and Far Eastern New Century (FENC) are PET producers in the US.