Thyssenkrupp to build second polymer plant for Köksan in Turkey
Thyssenkrupp’s plant engineering business has won a second order from the Turkish packaging producer Köksan for a new PET production plant. The plant will be built in Gaziantep, Turkey, next to an existing production line erected by thyssenkrupp in 2013. Its construction will double the site’s production capacity to 432,000 tons of PET resin per year. Completion and commissioning are planned for 2022.
The plant will use the Melt-To-Resin (MTR) process patented by thyssenkrupp’s subsidiary Uhde Inventa Fischer to produce various grades of resin. With this investment, Köksan intends to strengthen its market position both nationally and in the region. The PET will be supplied to the local market as well as to countries of the Middle East, CIS, America, Europe, and Africa regions.
According to Werner Steinauer, CEO of Uhde Inventa-Fischer, the plant can also be fed with a certain amount of recycled PET to meet the changing needs of customers and local authorities.
M. Murat Kögoglu, CEO of Köksan: “We are very happy to announce the signature of the second contract with thyssenkrupp, as already the first production line in Gaziantep delivers excellent performance and product quality continuously. In addition, we are currently examining the joint construction of a further PET polymerisation plant based on chemical recycled PET for various textile and packaging applications.”
The MTR process developed by thyssenkrupp is a continuous polycondensation process that obviates the need for the solid-state-post-condensation process steps in the production of PET resin. This leads to energy savings, reduced investment, operating and maintenance costs and a higher raw material yield compared to conventional technologies. The technology is claimed to meet today’s demand for sustainability by reducing the carbon footprint in terms of fuel and electrical energy by up to 30 percent.
Additionally, a retrofitting of the plants with Thyssenkrupp’s FTR (Flakes-To-Resin) recycling technology is possible at any time and allows the replacement of up to 50 per cent of the raw materials without affecting food approvals for the final product. The process is based on the 2-reactor technology, which uses the patented Espree and Discage reactors to obtain the desired high melt viscosities.
