Mitsui Chemicals Company and Siam Cementhai Chemicals’ joint venture, Siam Mitsui PTA Company Limited, will complete its second purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant in July of this year. The new $200 million PTA plant will have a capacity of 400,000 metric tons a year, which will double the current production rate that already exists at their site in Map Ta Phut, Thailand. Siam Mitsui will have a total of 800,000 metric tons a year that will be marketed and distributed by their Bangkok office. Purified terephthalic acid (PTA) was created by Del Meyer while working for Amoco in 1963. It was created to be used in polyester, a budding synthetic fiber during the 1960’s and 1970’s, but soon was incorporated into other textiles, audio and video tapes, packaging material for food, beverage containers, coatings, and paint. PTA is a white powdered crystal and is made by oxidizing para-xylene. It can also be mixed with ethylene glycol to create polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and is commonly used in plastic bottles.
