Titan Group starts building polyisobutylene plant in Omsk
OMSK. June 30 (Interfax) - Omsky Kauchuk , a division of Titan Group, has begun building a polyisobutylene (PIB) production plant with annual capacity of 10,000 tonnes and has launched a technical butane processing unit after modernization, an Interfax correspondent reported from the event.
"The launch of production at the Omsky Kauchuk plant will make it possible to eliminate our country's dependence on imports of PIB, which is used in lubricants, glues and sealants, electrical insulation products, emulsifiers, as well as in geological exploration," Deputy Prime Minister and Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said at the ceremony.
He said Russia currently imports more than 90% of its low-molecular-weight PIB, which is made by only two plants in the world. This is why the government supported the project to set up production in Omsk. The plant will use new Russian technology developed with R&D support from the Industry and Trade Ministry.
Titan Group chairman Mikhail Sutyaginsky said the new plant will have capacity to make 10,000 tonnes of product annually. The project is expected to be completed by 2025, he said.
The group said capital expenditures on building the plant will total about 900 million rubles.
As part of its modernization, Omsky Kauchuk also launched a technical butane processing unit to strip feedstock of light hydrocarbons for further separation into normal butane and isobutene. The modernized unit will increase technical butane processing by a quarter, thereby significantly expanding the resource base for producing a high-octane component of automobile fuel.
The company outfitted the production line with new control and automation systems, carried out diagnostics and testing of existing process equipment and purchased and installed new Russian-made pumping equipment, the regional government's press service told reporters. As a result, the plant will be able to increase processing of technical butane fraction to 210,000 tonnes per year.
Omsk Region's acting governor, Vitaly Khotsenko said both of these projects are aimed at import substitution and will help strengthen Russia's technological sovereignty.
"Both projects - alike the successful completion of the reconstruction of the technical butane processing unit and the start of large-scale work on the construction of polyisobutylene production - are important both for our region, one of the domestic petrochemical centers, and for the whole country," Khotsenko said.
Omsky Kauchuk makes several brands of rubber, latex, high-octane fuel additives and other chemical products. Titan Group includes a number of petrochemical plants (Omsky Kauchuk, Titan-SM LLC and Pskov Plant Titan-Polymer LLC) and agribusinesses (Petrovsky pig farm, Pushkinsky compound feed plant and Pushkinsky meat processing plant).