INEOS Aromatics is delighted to progress a major upgrade of its PTA plant in Indonesia that will increase the competitiveness of the asset and the nation’s polyester value chain.
The investment will deliver a major improvement in the efficiency of the Merak operations by installing a more modern, larger oxidation reactor, an overhead heat recovery system and modifying the main process air compressor.
The effect will be to significantly reduce energy consumption, chemical usage and utilities demand – which will ultimately reduce GHG emissions by over 13,000 CO2 equivalent tons per year (calculated on constant throughput basis).
The increase in capacity it also delivers will reduce the Indonesia polyester value chain’s dependence on imports of PTA.
The installation phase is now complete and the Merak team will now move onto the next phase, optimising the performance of the new technology in order to deliver the energy and capacity benefits.
The plant produces purified terephthalic acid (PTA), which is used by the polyester industry to produce PET bottles, textiles, film and other products.