INDORAMA: Air permit awarded for US cracker / Start-up in Q4 2017 / Integration of PET and olefins
Indorama said it is now a month ahead of its original timetable for completing the conversion process. In June of this year, the project received a water permit, allowing the facility to discharge liquid effluent through its wastewater treatment plant. Engineering activities related to debottlenecking also have been completed, and all major long-lead-time equipment has been ordered, the PET giant said. With mechanical completion expected in the third quarter of 2017 as previously announced, start-up is targeted for the year’s fourth quarter.
Ethylene produced by its US Gulf Coast cracker will feed Indorama’s production of PET feedstock MEG at sites in the states of Texas, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. When the project is complete, the group expects to become the top vertically-integrated PET player in North America. The integration of its PET activities with the olefins business will offer “a significant long term cost advantage across the North American footprint, CEO Aloke Lohia said in unveiling the plans in September 2015. Indorama also expects cost savings through access to cheap shale gas-fed feedstock. Louisiana’s state government has pledged USD 1.5 bn in investment aid.