PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2011

NEWS 8 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 03/11 www.petpla.net Indorama acquires Chinese assets, Investa N America businesses, looking at India expansion Indorama Ventures PCL, the Indonesian company that is the world’s largest producer of polyester and PET, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire PET polymer and resins manufacturing facilities located in Spartan- burg, S.C. and Querétaro, Mexico from certain sub- sidiaries of Invista B.V., for US$420 million less certain assumed liabilities. The price includes $229 million for the net fixed assets and equity interests and $174 million for the net working capital of the business. The acquisition is expected to be financed from a combination of cash, existing credit facilities and additional debt, with comple- tion in Q1 2011, subject to necessary regulatory approv- als. The acquisition of Invista’s assets provides access to Latin America, which is a net PET importer with demand growing 7% a year on average. Indorama has also announced its acquisition of the PET and polyester poly- mer assets of Guangdong Shinda UHMWPE in China, with a combined capacity of 406,000t/y. Of the total cost of $93 million, $40 million will be spent to expand the plant’s capacity. The Guangdong base gives Indorama access to the Chinese mainland, which is the largest fibre and PET market in the world. Yearly demand for PET and fibre in China is expected to rise from 15 million and 31 million t in 2009 to 24 million and 48 million, respectively, in 2015. Invista’s Spartanburg, South Carolina facility produces polyester resins used in bottles for CSD, water, beer, juice, and wine; food and custom-container applica- tions, and polyester staple fibre and speciality polymers for a variety of applications. The Spartanburg operation has a total capacity of 470 million t/a. The Querétaro, Mexico, facility produces polyester resins and polyester staple similar to the Spartanburg operation and has a total capacity of 535 million t/a. Invista’s Wilmington, N.C., site is not a part of the transaction, nor is its European Polymer & Resins business, which includes manufactur- ing operations in Germany. Indorama is also reported to be considering the construction of two new plants in India and the Middle East with a combined investment of $1.2 billion. www.indorama.com PET recycling increases in the USA The ‘2009 Report on Post-Consumer PET Container Recy- cling’, jointly published by the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR), The Association of Postcon- sumer Plastic Recyclers (APR), and the PET Resin Associa- tion (PETRA), found that PET recycling in the USA during 2009 achieved a rate of 28%, which is the sixth consecutive year of increase. The increase was despite an actual four % reduction in the total of PET bottles and jars available for recycling, by weight. The report also reveals the end uses for a record 937 million lbs (426 million kg) of recycled PET used in manufacturing applica- tions. Strong increases in recycling over 2008 were identified in sheet & film, food & beverage bottles, and non-food bottles end-use categories. This is the fifth year that NAPCOR, APR, and PETRA have partnered to produce this report and the 15th year that NAPCOR has issued the report in its current format. The full report can be found on the APR and NAPCOR websites. NAPCOR and the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) have produced two complementary studies, ‘2009 Post Consumer PET Bottle Bale Composition Analysis’ and ‘2009 Report on PET Water Bottle Recycling’, which analyse recy- cling of consumer products. The national recycling rate for PET plastic bottled water containers (500ml and three and five-gallon PET water cooler bottles) stood at 31% in 2009, up slightly from 2008, the studies found, which continues a trend of annual increases recorded since analysis began, in 2004, when the recycling rates for these containers were just over half the cur- rent levels. Data compiled from bale composition studies at 15 locations in 14 states determined that the total weight of all PET bottles and jars available in the USA for recycling in 2009 was 5.149bn lbs (2.34bn kg), a drop of four % from 2008. Just over one-quarter of the total (590 million kg) was represented by PET bottled water containers. The slight decrease in the total weight is attributed to adverse economic circumstances for consum- ers, light-weighting of bottles and jars and a 37% increase in the use of recycled PET resin (rPET) since 2008. In 2009, the gross recycling rate for all PET bottles is 28%, an increase of one % over 2008’s recycling rate. www.napcor.com www.plasticsrecycling.org DAK Americas completes acquisition of Eastman’s US PET business DAK Americas LLC, headquartered in Charlotte, NC, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Alfa S.A.B. de C.V. of Monterrey, Mexico, has completed the acquisition of the integrated PET and PTA business of Eastman Chemical Company. The acquisition brings DAK Americas’ total PET resin production capacity to more than 1.5 billion tons. The acquisition includes three production facilities in Columbia, SC, USA: two PET resin units and one PTA unit. The trans- action includes the intellectual property for IntegRex PET and PTA. The PET resin production units have a combined annual capacity of 675,000t and the PTA unit has an annual production capacity of 600,000t. The Columbia site will be integrated into DAK Americas PET and PTA business units, which have operations in the U.S in Charleston, SC; Wilm- ington, NC; and Fayetteville, NC. The acquisition of East- man’s assets in Columbia, SC, follows DAK’s purchase of Eastman’s PET International operations in Cosoleacaque, Mexico and Zarate, Argentina, which were completed in autumn 2007. www.dakamericas.com IV calculation app Plastic Technologies, Inc. (PTI) has launched a free iPhone/iPad app for calculating the final intrinsic viscosity (IV) for PET resin. PTI claims that the app is the first of its kind for the plastics packaging industry. The format, called a nomograph, uses a graphic representation of numerical values to produce a final calculation. PTI’s PET Hydrolytic Degradation Nomograph enables the user to indicate the starting IV by sliding a plot point on a vertical scale to the appropriate value. The same is done for moisture percent- age. The two plot points are connected by a moveable line and the intersection of that line, on a third vertical plane, is the material’s final IV. PTI says that the nomograph calculates the final IV in a couple of seconds. The app can be found in the iTunes App Store by searching for ‘PET nomograph’. www.plasticstechnologies.com