South Korea's Samsung Petrochemical will begin production at its newly expanded 400,000 mt/year purified terephthalic acid line in Ulsan earlier than expected, in September or October, the company said Monday.
The Won 60 billion ($56 million) debottlenecking of the 200,000 mt/year line to 400,000 mt/year started in October last year and was scheduled to be completed at the end of this year.
The expansion would boost Samsung Petrochemical's total PTA production capacity to 2 million mt/year. The company has three PTA lines at its Ulsan complex on the southern coast -- the newly expanded No. 1 line, and the No. 2 and 3 lines each with a capacity of 450,000 mt/year. It also has one line on the western coast at Seosan with a capacity of 700,000 mt/year.
PTA is a raw material needed to make polyester fiber used in the production of conveyor belts and fishing nets. It is also used for PET bottles, film and engineering plastics.
