February 2001 - Volume 16 I Number 1

About 440 delegates from all links of the polyester chain turned out for the 5th Polyester World Congress sponsored by Maack Business Services.

Approximately 440 representatives from all links of the polyester chain turned out for the 5th Polyester World Congress sponsored by Maack Business Services of Switzerland.
Industry heavyweight DuPont Polyester Technologies used the occasion to highlight the progress it has made in its NG3 process and 3GT polymer developments, bringing half-dozen key executives to support its presentation and demonstrate its commitment to the polyester industry.
Sharing the limelight was Shell Chemical Co,. and its engineering partner Zimmer AG, which sponsored a joint session on Shell’s Corterra PTT-based polymer. One step back in the process, BP, formerly BP Amoco, presented a panel on the PTA raw material supply and demand forecasts for various regions of the world.
Global leaders in plant engineering, processing technologies and machinery manufacturing shared their recent developments, as well. About two-thirds of the congress concerned itself with polyester raw materials and fiber and yarn applications, with the balance devoted to PET packaging, bottle and container technologies and recycling.

Raw Materials Outlook
It has not been fun being in the paraxylene (p-X) business these past years, as a two-year oversupply, skyrocketing crude oil prices and weak demand have devastated producers. The good news, according to Robert Denny, director of marketing and business development for UOP, USA, is that the situation can’t get any worse.
In fact, he said, the market has bottomed out and is poised for an upturn. That upturn, however, will take about two years.
Mr. Denny, whose company is a world leader in developing and commercializing technology for license to the oil refining, petrochemical and gas processing industries, predicted an oversupply of p-X through mid-2002. However, supplies could start to tighten and prices to increase in the fourth quarter of 2002.
Supply balance and pricing depends on whether any new p-X capacity comes on line between 2003-04. If not, and polyester demand continues to surge, polyester consumption could be negatively impacted by supply shortages -- first of PTA and then p-X — three to four years out.

PTA Supply
The market status of PTA — purified terephthalic acid, the most common base for polyester fiber — mirrors the oversupply situation that exists for paraxylene.
However, Patrick Prevost, CEO for PTA in Europe and the Americas for BP, formerly BP Amoco, said all overcapacity will be rung out of the market in 2002. BP is the world’s largest producer of PTA, accounting for about 32% of an estimated worldwide output of 26 million tons per year.
PTA output is expected to grow to about 36 million tons annually in 10 years, Mr. Prevost predicted.
In Asia, notably driven by China, PTA demand growth of 7% to 8% a year is expected, according to Hugo Viaene, BP’s PTA general manager for Asia.
PET resin production and consumption will continue to be driven by the growth in polyester fiber consumption, representing fully two-thirds of PET use. PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, is a PTA derivative.
Growing use of PET resin as a packaging material will start to put pressure on PTA supplies. Nevertheless, Mr. Prevost said that, “There will be plenty of PTA supply to meet growing demand and provide price stability for polyester producers.”

Moderator Horst Maack (standing right)and panelists Chemtex Vice President Bharat Gala, Barmag Executive Managers Michael Hennig and Dr. Uwe Baader; and Montefibre SpA Polyester R&D Manager Franco Francalanci.

Polyester Fiber Growth
Polyester fiber production worldwide was expected to reach 17.5 million to 18 million tons in 2000 and is forecast to increase about 7% annually through 2005, according to a report prepared by Faycal Charaf, vice president of polyester and polyamide segments for Maack Business Services. Mr. Charaf was recovering from surgery and was unable to give his presentation.
His study, however, suggests that growth in polyester fiber production will continue to be centered in Asia, with little or no growth foreseen in output in Europe or the Americas.

DuPont’s Role in Industry
Dr. Robert Hirsch, managing director of DuPont Polyester Technologies, outlined DuPont’s evolution from an explosives manufacturer nearly 200 years ago to an integrated science company today.
As far as the future of the company’s manmade fiber business is concerned, Mr. Hirsch made it clear that the company has moved far away from being just a fiber manufacturer and marketer to a “global supplier of polyester technology solutions.”
“It is no longer good enough to just sell a product,” he said. “We need to market our knowledge. It’s much more productive and little to no capital is generally involved.”
Mr. Hirsch pointed out various alliances, partnerships and joint ventures DuPont has entered into, including:

• A longstanding polyester plant engineering and construction alliance with Chemtex International, USA.
• An alliance with USA contractor Fluor Daniel to provide polyester production technology for packing resins based on DuPont’s unique NG3 technology.
• A yarn-making equipment technology alliance with Barmag of Germany.
• A staple fiber venture in the Americas with Alfa of Mexico.
• A filament alliance in the Americas with Unifi Inc.
• A joint venture in polyester resins, intermediates and fibers with Sabanci in Europe.
• A global polyester film JV with Teijin Ltd. of Japan.
• A textile chip and fibers venture in Asia with Suzhou of China.
  

Today, Mr. Hirsch said, the goal of DuPont Polyester Technologies is to “develop leading PTA and polyester technology for our joint ventures and licensees, and convey that technology into those partners.”
He added that DuPont is “actively pursuing significant developments in PTA, in polymerization and in fiber and PET resin products and processes. Our R&D pipeline is full, with some developments now entering the commercialization phase, while others are in the early stages of development. Our goal is always to have a ‘next generation’ offering in development.”
Among the new developments detailed by DuPont was its NG3 PET resin technology,
Dr. Maria Farnos termed the NG3 PET process “a groundbreaking and refreshing departure from conventional polyester technology that results in a significant improvement in the bottom line” for producers of high-molecular weight PET bottle resins.
Rather than relying on the melt plant to produce an intermediate with high IV, NG3 produces a low IV intermediate and then carries out most of the polymerization in the solid state. She said other leaders in the PET industry have tried this process but have failed because of their inability to form robust particles from low IV intermediate. In a technical presentation, she explained how DuPont researchers solved this problem.
Other key developments in fiber production were outlined as well. These are detailed in the following story.

Growing Use of PTT
Shell Chemical Co. and its partners presented their case for the growing acceptance of polytrimethylene terephthalate, PTT, namely Shell’s Corterra brand polymer, as a nylon alternative in apparel and carpets. A technologist from carpet manufacturing giant Shaw Industries Inc. USA was on hand to advance Shell’s polymer innovation in the carpet arena.
In the evening, conference guests were treated to a fashion show of Corterra-based wear from various apparel manufacturers.
Zimmer AG, engineering partner with Shell in PTT polymer plant construction, presented its program of PTT production processes for batch plants of 80 tons-a-day capacity to continuous plants of up to 300 tons-per-day capacity.
Zimmer also outlined other innovative technologies for the polyester chain — from its MOD5 technology to improve winding speeds for POY to its symmetrical quenching systems for producing super-microfilaments to its catalyst system for heavy metal free PET resins.

MonteFibre Powers Up
One of the most interesting positions advanced by a fiber producer at the conference came from Franco Francalanci, R&D chief for Montefibre SpA’s polyester business.
After detailing a host of compelling reasons why Europe has declined as a polyester producing region, including:

• the high cost of labor,
• the high cost of energy,
• consolidation among fiber producers,
• a dramatic rise in fiber and fashion imports, particular from Asia, and
• lack of any significant invest-ment in PET fibers or textile-grade polymers,
  

he concluded that polyester producers still had a future in Europe.

Well, maybe not all producers, Mr. Francalanci said, “but definitely for the few who will be able to adapt themselves to the changes and to accept that they will compete in an open market with very strong players outside of Europe who enjoy much more favorable conditions.”
Montefibre, he said, intends to be one of the survivors. To illustrate that desire, he said it is most significant that Montefibre, formerly owned by chemical giant Enichem, is now in the hands of the family-owned Orlandi group that is devoted to being in the fiber and textiles businesses.
Secondly, the company announced that it will start construction of its Acerra 2000 Project, a 360-tons-per-day continuous polymerization plant for the direct spinning of staple fiber. It is believed to be the largest single plant using DMT, rather than the more conventional PTA. Technology suppliers are Chemtex International/DuPont.
The new staple fiber line will have a world-scale capacity of 150 tons per day. The spinning technology is being supplied by Inventa-Fischer of Germany.
To power the plant, Montefibre is partnering with Edison SpA in building a cogeneration plant in Acerra of almost 800 MW capacity. The new power station, due to come on stream by early 2003, will provide electrical and steam energy to the plant and the excess capacity will be sold on the open market -- providing Montefibre both below-market-cost energy and an additional revenue stream.
Montefibre is definitely honing its niche as a top-quality, low-cost regional player in the polyester fiber market.

Engineering
A host of well-known polyester fiber and resin technology and machinery suppliers presented their latest developments. While space does not permit summaries of all of them, among the presenters and topics were:

• Barmag Saurer Group on advances it has made on online tele-diagnosis of fiber spinning and texturing machinery. The company also provided details of its integration into the Saurer Group.
• Bühler AG on its advances in SSP technology for PET bottlegrade resins, as well as bottle-to-bottle recycling.
• Chemtex International on a new internet-based spare-parts solution for polyester producers.
• EREMA GmbH on PET recycling solutions.
• Inventa-Fischer on compact continuous processing for high-viscous PBT.
• Neumag, now also part of Barmag Saurer, on advanced processes for one- and two-step production of polyester staple fiber.
• Rieter Textile Systems on technologies for PBT, PTT and PET, as well as for polyester BCF. The company also talked about its organizational structure.

DuPont Panelists: Ray Miller, David Walker, Dr. Maria Farnos, Dr. Gregory Sweet and Dr. Robert Hirsch.

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