(Plastics Today) -- Processors of very different applications are to be served by these two recently announced capacity expansions. M&G's announcement, made last month, involves construction of a massive plant in the U.S. to supply bottle-grade PET for packaging, whereas the SKC project in Korea will increase its capacity of premium optical-grade PET, which is primarily used in the production of high-end films for consumer electronics.
This week plastics supplier SKC Co. Ltd. (Seoul) announced it had contracted plant engineering firm Uhde Inventa-Fischer to build a new plant for the production of optical film-grade PET at SKC's operation in Jincheon, Korea. The plant will have two lines with production capacities respectively of 144 and 54 KTa. The commissioning of both is scheduled for the second quarter of 2012.
M&G Group (Tortona, Italy) is building a 100 KTa PET plant in the U.S., with the new plant expected to be online by late 2012 or early 2013, with the PET plant co-located with one of a new purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant, also run by M&G. The new plants will be located in Texas, Mississippi or Louisiana, with M&G expected to announce the location by the end of this month.