Indorama Ventures (IVL), the Thailand-based PET giant, has started commercial operations at its new plant for purified isophthalic acid (PIA) plant in Decatur, Alabama, USA.

The US facility complements the group’s PIA plant at Quimic, Spain, which owns the production technology. With the two plants that together have nameplate capacity to produce 440,000 t/y, IVL is the sole PIA producer to have production facilities in both the two major customer regions of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Americas.

Back-integrated into raw materials paraxylene, PTA and naphthalene dicarboxylate (NDC), Indorama said the Decatur site is the largest in its PET production chain with capacity for more than 2 million t/y of product. The MEG feedstock needed to complete the PET formula is shipped by barge from IVL’s olefins complex at Clear Lake, Texas, USA.

Also in Alabama, the polyester specialist is acquiring a PET recycling facility in the town of Athens from Custom Polymers PET. IVL said the purchase is “strategically in line” with its long-term sustainability objectives.

With the acquisition, the Thai group will be able to expand its capabilities for rPET flake and pellets in the US as well as enhance supply chain synergies for its recycled resins business and its capacity to drive closed-loop sustainable solutions.

The new capabilities, will give the PET specialist a secure supply of the two types of recyclate to meet the “ever increasing demand” for food-grade rPET packaging. IVL added that the proximity of the new recycling facility to its US polyester production will create synergies of management and supply chains.

Recently, the group announced that its joint venture to acquire the unfinished PET/PTA complex of M&G USA, part of the insolvent Italian-owned M&G group (formerly Moss & Ghisolfi), has been approved by US regulatory authorities.