“IntegRex” is the latest “magic word” at Eastman Chemical (Kingsport, Tennessee / USA; www.eastman.com), the world market leader in polyester. According to Eastman, the new process will allow PET granules to be produced directly from paraxylene (PX) feedstock without the usual solid-state phase via terephthalic acid (PTA). This will permit PET to be produced in the US at the lowest cost worldwide, said Allan Rothwell, head of the company´s “Voridian” PET division, with an eye to Asian competition.

The necessary conversion and expansion work is scheduled to start at Eastman´s Columbia, South Carolina, site in 2005. More than USD 100m is to be invested, and by the end of 2006, some 350,000 t/y of PET will be produced there using the IntegRex process. In North America, where Eastman is the largest PET producer, demand is expected to outpace supply by 2006, said Rothwell.

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Extracts from an Eastman investor presentation on Voridian and “IntegRex” as PDF document (800 KB)