The global and regional markets for purified terephthalic acid (PTA) have always been the arena for fierce competitive struggle. Numerous manufacturing companies with different levels of integration in upstream and downstream sectors constantly compete in the extremely volatile and dynamic PTA market environment, where each dollar per tonne of cost advantage over a competitor has a significant value. Everything matters in such competition. Better energy performance, increased environmental safety exhibited in reduced environmental footprint (e.g., less waste, smaller water usage, etc.), PTA production process simplification and optimization, improved overall cost-effectiveness of this process – all these are vital factors of successful PTA business.
Sophisticated Western PTA production technologies and enormous Asian production potential (Asia Pacific accounts for about 77% of global PTA production capacity) intermingle to drive the market further.
Terephthalic acid: structure of the global production capacity by region
The vivid example is INVISTA’s P8 technology platform, which offers unique competitive advantage and various benefits. This technological platform has been employed in over 20 PTA plant projects all over the world. The above-mentioned combination of Western technological prowess and Eastern manufacturing capacities has been recently confirmed once again when INVISTA’s affiliate company, INVISTA Performance Technologies (IPT), supplied Jiaxing Petrochemical (a subsidiary of Tongkun Group) with P8 PTA technology to start a PTA line in China in early 2018. The collaboration of two companies exemplifies the way for successful PTA market development in the region which now puts major emphasis on diminishing environmental impact.
More reliable information on the terephthalic acid market can be found in the in-demand research report “Terephthalic Acid (PTA): 2018 World Market Outlook and Forecast up to 2027”.