Polish Producer Plans PTA & PET Production Plants

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Rafineria Czechowice S.A. (Czechowice-Dziedzice, Poland) has selected Lurgi AG (Frankfurt Am Main, Germany) as the engineering and construction contractor for a purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant and a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant. The plants will be built at the existing site of Rafineria's refinery, which will be shut down once the two new plants are up and running in the fourth quarter of 2005.

The closure of the existing refinery is a result of inefficient production rates and impending environmental requirements of the European Commission (EC).

Construction is scheduled to begin in late June or early July of this year and the total cost of the two plants will be approximately $200 million with each will producing 150,000 metric tons a year.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE: EMN) technology will be installed for the PTA plant and the PET plant will utilize Zimmer process technology. Eastman entered into a PTA process licensing agreement with Lurgi in 2000, allowing Lurgi exclusive PTA technology licensing rights on a global scale. Eastman's PTA technology claims to be the most cost effective to produce while maintaining exceptional quality.