Amur GCC to be first in Russian gas chemical industry to use robotic loaders
BLAGOVESCHENSK. Aug 1 (Interfax) - The Amur Gas Chemical Complex (AGCC), which is 60% owned by Russian petrochemical group SIBUR and 40% by China's Sinopec, will be the first gas chemical project in Russia to widely use robotic loaders for logistical tasks, the company said.
Twenty-five unmanned loaders were tested at the plant of the manufacturer and the first batch of equipment has been sent to AGCC. The loaders can operate for up to 10 hours on a single charge and carry up to 3 tonnes. Once the complex reaches full capacity, they will have to load up to 5,600 pallets of finished product daily.
The loaders orient themselves by stationary objects using lidar and have a 10-meter range of vision. They will be connected to one another in a common network and will be able to coordinate with one another. They will be controlled by operators.
In future, the complex also plans to use smart systems to inspect and receive containers, unmanned cranes for loading and other digital solutions connected in an integrated information ecosystem.
"The introduction of such solutions will make it possible to increase the efficiency of intra-plant logistics chains by more than 30%. Work is now concluding on closing the thermal envelope of the buildings of the logistics complex, process equipment is being installed, gantry cranes for loading containers are being assembled and the construction of railway infrastructure is being completed," AGCC logistics director Ivan Zolotukhin was quoted as saying in the press release.
The logistics complex will consist of 17 facilities, including ramps for feeding polyethylene and polypropylene granules, an area for packaging and packing finished product and a railway container terminal. There are also plans to set up in-house production of film and plastic pallets, as well as automatic feeding of packaging materials on the packaging line.
AGCC was 82% complete at the end of June. The project calls for producing 2.3 million tonnes of polyethylene and 400,000 tonnes of polypropylene per year. The complex's construction is synchronized with the gradual ramp-up to full capacity at Gazprom's Amur Gas Processing Plant, which will supply the feedstock - ethane and liquefied petroleum gas.
The complex is expected to start producing polyethylene in 2026 and polypropylene in 2027.
