MEGlobal (Dubai / United Arab Emirates; www.meglobal.biz) has officially broken ground on its new 750,000 t/y MEG plant in Freeport, Texas / USA (for previous coverage, see Plasteurope.com of 30.03.2016). The facility is due to be completed in 2019, and will utilise the “Meteor” process of former parent Dow Chemical (Midland, Michigan / USA; www.dow.com), which is currently building a 1.5m t/y ethane cracker at the site, output of which will help feed MEGlobal’s plant.

The US group last year sold its stake in MEGlobal to Equate (Safat / Kuwait; www.equate.com), which in turn is a joint venture operated by Dow and Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC, Sabahiya / Kuwait; www.pic.com.kw) – see Plasteurope.com of 27.10.2015.

Commenting on the investment – which Equate says is the first by a Kuwaiti petrochemicals company in the US – Equate CEO Mohammad Husain said, “The new plant will enable us to meet rising demand for ethylene glycol throughout the world, especially in the USA and Asia.” MEG is used in PET and polyester fibres, among others.