DAK Americas to hike PSF capacity by 230mn lbs/year

02 Sep '15

3 min read

DAK Americas LLC is increasing its polyester staple fibre (PSF) capacity by 230 million lbs per year to meet growing demand in the Americas.

“The new fibre capacity will be installed at DAK's Pearl River Site in Bay St. Louis with project start- up scheduled in the second half of 2016,” it said in a press release.

The project will create 86 new full time positions including operations, maintenance, technical and management roles on-site.

Production will focus on lower denier or below 3.0 denier fibres, but will have the capability to produce fibre products from 0.9 to 9.0 denier.

DAK recently completed a PSF expansion, which was announced earlier in October 2014 at its facility near Charleston, South Carolina by adding 27 million lbs per year PSF capacity.

Upon completion of the Pearl River site expansion, DAK's total PSF sales capacity in NAFTA will be 700 million lbs per year.

According to the company, the Pearl River plant will continue to produce high quality Laser+ PET resins to support customers in the region.

“DAK is proud to expand its trade leading fibre offerings for low, mid, and high tenacity fibres engineered for textile and nonwoven applications,” Mark Ruday, vice president, DAK Americas Fibres unit said.

“The Pearl River site provides us with a unique opportunity to grow our fibre capacity at a very competitive investment”, Jorge Young, DAK president and CEO stated.

“Furthermore, the new fibre facility at Pearl River geographically strengthens DAK's ability to supply PSF across the Americas,” Young added.

DAK Americas is comprised of five business units; Polyethylene Terephthalate Resins (PET), Polyesters Staple Fibres (PSF), Monomers/ ingredients (TPA/PTA), Specialty Polymers and Green Polyester.

DAK is one of the largest integrated producers of PET resins in the world and the main producer of polyester staple fibres in the Americas and has numerous ongoing sustainability initiatives.

Alpek, the owner of DAK Americas is the largest petrochemical company in Mexico and the second largest in Latin America.

The company operates two business segments one of which is; Polyester, which in turn manufactures PTA, PET and polyester fibres.

The second division is Plastics & Chemicals which produces polypropylene, expandable polystyrene, caprolactam, and other specialty and industrial chemicals.

Alpek is a leading producer of PTA and PET worldwide, the largest expandable polystyrene manufacturer in America, and the only producer of caprolactam in Mexico.

Alpek also operates one of the largest polypropylene facilities in North America and in 2014, reported revenues of $6.5 billion and EBITDA of $434 million.

The Company operates 21 plants in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile, and employs approximately 5,000 people. (AR)