• The esterfication and melt polymerization technologies are all ICI based or a derivative of the ICI designs.
  
• The solid state polymerization technology on the resin lines is Bepex with some modifications

• Primary raw materials, PTA (purified terephtalic acid) and EG (ethylene glycol) were supplied by rail. PTA powder is unloaded by a Waeschle dense phase convey system in a dedicated building into storage silos. EG is pumped from railcars into a tank farm. 
  
• Chip shipments can be by rail hopper cars, hopper trucks, or super sacks. Rail and truck loading are by gravity from silos.

Click Here for an Overview of the Resin Lines

Click Here for an Overview on the Entire Facility

Initial site was constructed as a polyester filament plant.

Site had many upgrades/addition through out production:

• (2) additional polyester staple lines
• PET resins plant in 1996 along with supporting equipment such as Dowtherm furnaces, chillers, etc.

Type of Facility:   Polyester Fibers and Polyester Resins Production Facility

Capacity:   Resins - 470 MM lbs/year
                   Fibers - unknown at this time

Start Up:    Resins: 1996

Shutdown:    Resins - December 2008
                     Fiber - 2000

Site Consists of:

• 680,000 sq. ft. under roof and sits on 195 acres.
• Rail and truck access as well as sea access available at nearby pier.
• The esterification and melt polymerization technologies are all ICI based or a derivative of the ICI designs.  The solid state polymerization technology on the resin lines is Bepex with some modifications.
• Supplied utilities to the site include electricity, public water, natural gas, and steam from a utilities owned Co-generation plant located near the site.
• An on-site waste treatment facility that is an activated sludge plant with a capaicty of 4,500 m³/day.
• Process control is performed with a Moore Products DCS which is compatible with Siemens.  Nothing has been removed from this system and it can be restarted or reused in a short period of time

Brief Process Description

The resin plant has a stated annual capacity of 215,000 tons (470M lbs) easily expandable to 265,000 tons/yr.  The plant consists of (2) continuous polymerization (CP) lines based on ICI technology. (1) line has an instantaneous capacity of 6.2 tons/hr, with the second line instantaneous capacity at 19 tons/hr.  Both lines feed (2) Bepex solid sate polymerization lines rated at 12.6 tons/hr each.

The CP line process starts with (2) main raw materials, PTA and EG being metered and mixed into a paste in a 304LSS, 44 m³ agitated tank.  The paste is pumped into a stainless vertical primary esterifier vessel. This vessel is agitated and is heated by internal coils by DowthermA vapor to a pressure of 280 kpa at a temperature of 280°C. The vapor from the vessel goes to a tray column with the EG being returned to the process and the remaining water with VOCs being sent to a Thermal Oxidizer for destruction. The monomer from the primary esterifier is then fed into a 3-stage stainless horizontal secondary esterification vessel. Each stage is agitated and heated with internal coils using DowthermA vapor.  This vessel operates at atmospheric pressure and at 280°C. The vapor from the vessel goes to a tray column with the EG being returned to the process and the remaining water with VOCs being sent to a Thermal Oxidizer for destruction.

The monomer is then fed into the polymerization process. The Low Polymerizer (LP) is a vertical agitated vessel that is jacketed with internal coils. This vessel is heated by DowthermA and operates under a slight vacuum generated by glycol vapor based ejectors. The final vessel in the polymerization train is a High Polymerizer (HP). This is a jacketed horizontal vessel with a wiped wall agitator the length of the vessel. This vessel operates at a higher vacuum generated by glycol vapor based ejectors. Both the LP and HP are assumed to be stainless vs. stainless clad carbon steel. This could not be confirmed.  Polymer is pumped with Maag gear pumps through a Maag 100 micron candle filter assembly.  (filter life is 4-6 months).  After filtration the polymer is fed trough die heads to (3) Conair horizontal cutters (model 9024) with (2) spares, through Gala dryers to intermediate storage silos.

The Solid State Polymerization (SSP) is a Bepex process. The process starts with the amorphous chip being fed into (2) 50,000 kg/day hoppers, which feed both lines. The chip is fed into a Bepex Solidaire crystallizer heated with a once through hot air system (~ 150°C) to raise crystallinity to ~ 40%. The exhaust air is fed through a ThermOx unit to destroy any VOCs.   It is then fed into a Bepex Soildaire Torusdisk unit which has Dowtherm heated jackets, shafts and paddles.  This step increase crystallinity and raises the temperature to ~ 209°C. The process vessel is purged with Nitrogen.  The next vessel is a jacketed purge screw / annealer, which is also purged with nitrogen which feeds the vertical reactor vessel.  The vertical reactor vessel is dowtherm heated with coils wrapped around the outside of the vessel. It is a plug flow design and purged with nitrogen. It holds the chip temperature at ~ 200°C for ~ 15 hrs to build IV to the final desired level of .80 to .84 iv. The chip is discharged into a water tank and mixed into slurry (Waeschle Conticon system) then pumped through a Gala Dryer, Rotex classifiers and then dense phase conveyed to stainless storage / shipping silos. The slurry system is used as it helps wash the chip and minimize dust for the customers.  All process vessels are stainless. The nitrogen system is closed loop, with the N2 gas stream being cleaned by glycol scrubbers.

Click Here for a Detialed Report

Major Equipment Details
(All CP-4&5, SSP-7A&7B equipment manufactured in 1995/1996 unless otherwise noted.)

CP-4&5 Units

Paste Tanks (2):  3.2m diameter and 4.8m tall with 44 m3 capacity.  Constructed of 304L SS.  With agitator. 

Primary Esterifiers (2):  2.1m diameter and 5.3m tall.  Constructed of 304L SS with 316L SS internal coils.  With 30 hp agitator.  Shell is rated for 4.2 bar at 325°C, coils are rated for 3.1 bar at 325°C.  Shell operates at 2.8 bar and 280°C. 

Primary Esterifier Columns (2):  1.0m diameter and 10.2m tall.  Constructed of 304L SS with 316L packing (2 sections).  Column is rated for 4.2 bar at 325°C. 

Secondary Esterifiers (2):  2.3m diameter and 7.7m long (horizontal vessel).  Constructed of 304L SS with 316L SS internal coils (three sections).  Has 3 agitators.  Shell is rated for 1.8 bar at 311°C, coils are rated for 3.1 bar at 325°C.  Operates at atmospheric pressure and at 280°C. 

Secondary Esterifier Columns (2):  0.6m diameter and 7.1m tall.  Constructed of 304L SS with 304L packing (3 sections).  Column is rated for 1.7 bar at 325°C. 

Low Polymerizers (2):  3.9m diameter and 2.9m tall (“fat boy”) with 44 m3 capacity.  Constructed of 304L SS with a CS jacket and 316L SS internal coils.  Shell is rated for 4.0 bar at 325°C, the jacket is rated for rated for 3.0 bar at 325°C, and the coils are rated for 3.1 bar at 325°C. 

Low Polymerizer Scraping Condensers (2):  1.0m diameter with 5.6 m3 capacity.  Constructed of 304L SS (shell and jacket) – no tubes.  Operates under vacuum. 

Intermediate Polymerizer (1):  2.5m diameter and 7.5m long (horizontal).  Constructed of 304L SS shell and jacket.  Operates under vacuum and 284°C. Agitator turns at 11 rpm. 

High Polymerizers (2):  2.5m diameter and 7.5m long (horizontal).  Constructed of 304L SS shell and jacket.  Combination of vapor and liquid. Dowtherm heating on jacket.  Operates under vacuum and 286°C.  Agitator turns at 8.5 rpm. 

Polymer Filters (4):  Constructed of 304L SS with 316L SS filter elements.  Design is for 206 bar at 343°C and operation is at 165 bar at 286°C. 

Conair Chip Cutters (5):  Horizontal model 9024, constructed of 304L SS.  Rated for 10.5 mt/hr.

Gala Spin Driers (3):  1.6m diameter and 2.4m tall.  Constructed of 304 SS shell and internals.  68 mt/hr water flow and 10 mt/hr chip capacity each.  Aluminum air ducts.

SSP-7A&7B Units

Crystallizers (2):  8’-5” diameter and 33’-4” long (horizontal).  Constructed of 304 SS shell and internals.  200 hp agitator turns at 10-12 rpm.  Operates at 0.5 bar and 180°C with heated dry air. 

Torusdisk® Heaters (2):  8’-7” diameter and 33’-4” long (horizontal).  Constructed of 304 SS shell and internals.  150 hp agitator turns at 10-12 rpm.  Operates at 0.5 bar and 195°C with hot nitrogen. 

Purge Screw Heaters (2):  8’-7” diameter and 37’-6” long (horizontal).  Constructed of 304 SS shell and internals.  150 hp agitator turns at 10-12 rpm.  Operates at 0.5 bar and 195°C with hot nitrogen. 

Hopper Reactors (2):  13’ diameter and 60’ tall.  Constructed of 304 SS shell and internals.  Temperature profile is 205°C top, 210°C middle, and 205°C bottom.   It appears that a thin carbon steel jacket was added to these reactors after installation. 

Gala Spin Driers (3):  43” diameter and 136” tall.  Constructed of 304 SS shell and internals.

Hoffman Nitrogen Blowers (2):  20,000   CFM, 5-stage centrifugal blower Model # 79105B3.  Casing rated for 25 psi.  24" inlet, 19" outlet.  Driven by a 900 HP, Siemens AC motor.  Rated for 3542 rpm, 4160 volt.  Overall dimensions 15' long x 70" wide x 88" high.  Direct coupled and skid mounted. 

Satake Color Sorters (2):  Scan Master II Color Sorter, Model # SMII-8401E.  Electronic optical sorting based on  visible and infrared light to scan product and sort  material by grades.  Used in this application to reject off-color chips.

Other Units

Dowtherm Furnaces (3):  The three forced-air Dowtherm furnaces put out 35 MM BTU/hr each with 4” tubes in the firebox.  The furnaces are approximately 20’ diameter by 45’ tall.  The convection section sits on top of the furnace, with the stack on top of that.  Dr. Shaw stated that the furnaces weigh approximately 80 mt each and that the stacks were placed using a helicopter.  There are (5) Dowtherm recirculation pumps feeding the central loop for the process areas.  Each pump has a 250 hp drive motor.

DEDO Column (1):  1.0m diameter and 25m tall.  Constructed of 304L SS.  Column has (43) trays and operates under a vacuum. 

DEDO Water Tanks (2):  37’ diameter and constructed of 304L SS.  Atmospheric tanks.