Dupont Plans Expansion of Sorona Polymer in North Carolina

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). E I du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE: DD) (Dupont) (Wilmington, Delaware) is reviewing plans to expand its production capacity of 3GT polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT) called Sorona at its plant located in Kinston, North Carolina. Dupont began production of Sorona in Kinston during the fall of 2000 with the installation of a production line initially capable of producing approximately 12,000 tons per year of product.

It is expected that Dupont will construct an additional line at the Kinston plant site in 2003 capable of producing at least 35,000 tons per year of product. Industrialinfo.com has been tracking this project as part of its North American Projects Database since June of 2000. The project scope, basic design, and capital estimating have been completed for this project, and if approved during the first quarter of 2003 construction could begin in the early summer of next year.

Sorona has received an excellent acceptance in the textile market as a polymer that has become popular in stretch fabrics and textiles. Sorona has unique properties such as comfort-stretch and recovery and great dye characteristics and is a family of polymers made from 1,3-propanediol (PDO).

Dupont operates two large coal-fired process steam boilers that are currently celebrating 50-years of service at the site. Day and Zimmerman Incorporated, Mundy Industrial Contractors, and Fluor Daniel Incorporated are all contractors that have a long history of performing capital and maintenance projects at the Kinston site and each could play a role in future expansions.

Industrialinfo.com is tracking turnarounds and has recently updated the North American Industrial Database to reflect the most recent project schedules.