SIBUR to begin producing polymerization catalysts based on own formulations under tolling agreements in 2025, localize production in Russia in 2027-2029

MOSCOW. Dec 12 (Interfax) - SIBUR plans to begin producing polymerization catalysts of its own design in 2025 at friendly countries' facilities, the company's director of R&D and innovation Sergei Tutov said in an interview with Interfax.

SIBUR uses around 25 polymerization catalysts at its facilities. Previously, these were supplied from Europe, the United States and Japan, but the company has shifted to available analogs since 2022. SIBUR has now completed laboratory testing for domestic substitutes for all key positions. Chrome catalysts needed by ZapSibNefteKhim (ZSNKh) and Kazanorgsintez have already passed the industrial testing stage.

"During 2025, our goal is to start producing catalysts based on our own formulations under tolling agreements. That is, since we have completed laboratory development, we are ready to produce them in industrial volumes. We do not yet have industrial capacity in Russia, [so] we will use friendly countries' industrial capacities to produce catalysts according to our formulations, homologate them at all our plants, and ensure a seamless transition to our own localized catalysts. We plan to begin domestic production in Russia in stages from 2027, and we intend to fully launch a catalyst production complex for polymerization by 2030," he said.

The production of chrome catalysts is already at the design stage. The next catalysts to enter the development stage will be Ziegler-Natta catalysts and metallocene catalysts, Tutov said. The company plans to locate its catalyst production plant in Kazan. SIBUR has plans to meet not only its own demand but also the possible needs of the Russian market as a whole.

The Pilot Technology Center launched last week in Tobolsk is a key element in the implementation of SIBUR's own catalysts, he said. "We cannot place a catalyst developed with a new formulation into industrial synthesis conditions. Laboratory conditions can only provide partial data on the catalyst's performance. To form the technological regime which this catalyst should operate in, we need to run it on an industrial line. Running a catalyst on the ZSNKh industrial line, for example, which produces 400,000 tonnes per year, may involve risks. Whereas the Pilot Technology Center will allow us to test the catalyst under conditions close to industrial ones, and prepare recommendations on how to work with this catalyst in large-scale production," he said.