SIBUR subsidiary completes PET expansion in eastern Russia
Polief (Blagoveshchensk, Russia), a subsidiary of Sibur (Moscow), has completed a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) expansion, increasing capacity from 140,000 m.t./year, to 210,000 m.t./year at Blagoveshchensk, eastern Russia, Sibur announced. Investment in the project totaled 1.9 billion rubles ($52.5 million).
The decision to expand PET production capacity at Polief was made in December 2010. Construction and installation work began in December 2012 and lasted one year. The technology licensors were Bio Chemtex (Tortona, Italy) and UOP's Belgium branch.
Polief also modernized its existing PET production lines as part of the project. The expansion will enable Polief to process more of its own output of purified terephthalic acid and substitute imports in certain Russian PET market segments, the company says.
‘‘Expanding PET production is a major element of the company's strategy to provide deep processing services for converting hydrocarbon production byproducts into valuable petrochemicals,’‘ says Dmitry Konov, CEO of Sibur.
Sibur’s total PET production capacity increased, on completion of the project, by one-third, to 285,000 m.t./year. Bottle-grade PET consumption in Russia amounted to 547,000 m.t. in 2013, compared with domestic production of 415,000 m.t., IHS Chemical says. The gap was filled by imports. Food-grade PET consumption per capita in Russia is 4.1 kilograms compared with 6.6 kg in Western Europe and 9.5 kg in the United States, according to IHS Chemical.