Uhde Inventa-Fischer to build Europe`s biggest PET plant for JBF Industries Ltd

The plant engineering and construction company Uhde Inventa-Fischer is to build a PET plant for its Indian customer JBF Industries Ltd., a leading producer of polyester granules. The plant with a total name plate capacity of 432,000 tonnes a year will be located in Geel, Belgium, and will produce high-quality PET for bottling and packaging applications. Feedstock terephthalic acid will be produced by BP Chembel N.V. on the same site and supplied.

Based on Uhde Inventa-Fischer's state-of-the-art, energy-efficient, patented Melt-To-Resin (MTR®) technology, the plant will enable JBF Industries Ltd. to produce top-quality PET pellets that are established in the market. Integration of a 54,000 tonne-per-year Flakes-To-Resin (FTR®) recycling line will also allow 25% of the PTA required for the production of PET to be replaced with recycling material. One of the outstanding features of the FTR® process is that it is FDA-approved, which certifies that the quality of the PET pellets produced is adequate for food applications.

Uhde Inventa-Fischer’s scope of supplies includes the know-how licence for the MTR®- and FTR® technologies, the basic- and detail engineering, supply of all plant components and supervision of the construction and commissioning activities. The operating personnel will also be trained by Uhde Inventa-Fischer’s experienced specialists. The detail engineering for the project will be carried out by Uhde Inventa-Fischer and Uhde India Private Ltd., thus bearing testimony to international cooperation within the ThyssenKrupp Uhde group network.

The MTR® process replaces the cost-intensive solid-state post condensation (SSP) process, thus achieving much lower operating and maintenance costs and a significantly reduced CO2 balance with fewer investment costs. Feedstock consumption is also considerably reduced without affecting the high product quality. The MTRÒ process is based on the 2-reactor high-viscosity technology developed by Uhde Inventa-Fischer and uses the patented ESPREEÒ and DISCAGEÒ reactors to ensure production of the required high melt viscosity on a sustained basis.

Uhde Inventa-Fischer is a leading engineering company located in Berlin, Germany, and Domat/Ems, Switzerland. Uhde Inventa-Fischer’s scope of services includes the development, engineering and construction of industrial plants for the production of polyester, polyamide and polylactic acid. The company has built and commissioned more than 400 production plants throughout the world. On joining the ThyssenKrupp Uhde group in 2004, the company also became part of ThyssenKrupp AG.

Source: Uhde Inventa-Fischer