SIBUR launches production of non-woven geotextiles under the «Kanvalan» brand

Kemerovo, August 17, 2010. At Kemerovo’s «Orton» company — a subsidiary of SIBUR — a festive event was held for the launch of a new plant for producing non-woven geotextiles under the «Kanvalan» trademark. The new facility shall have a designed output capacity of 9.4 tonnes per year (about 28 million m2 per year). The material will be fabricated from primary polypropylene using the «span bond» production technology.

«Kanvalan» are geotextiles that are white in colour and have a width of up to 5.2 metres, which are used for separating structural layers, as well as in drainage and protection. The main spheres of application of this product are the construction of roads and railways, the development of infrastructure for oil and gas fields, pipeline ballasting, as well as industrial and civil construction.

The new production is part of SIBUR’s corporate project «Geosynthetic materials», which includes the plants of «Orton» and «Plastic»* dedicated to producing geogrids, with an output capacity of 1.7 tonnes per annum, and a plant for producing non-woven geotextiles, with a capacity of 9.4 tonnes per annum, on the production base of «Plastic». The latter facility is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter of 2010. The main sales markets for the «Kanvalan» products manufactured at the «Orton» facilities are expected to be Western and Eastern Siberia, the Russian Far East, and Kazakhstan.

The grantor of the license and the supplier of the equipment for the new line of geotextiles is the Italian company O.R.v. Manufacturing S.p. A. The total investment in this particular project amounts to 900 million rubles.

* In order to carry out projects in the sphere of geosynthetics, SIBUR and the «Leader Innovation» closed unit investment fund, which is engaged in particularly high risk (venture) investments, has, under the supervision of the «Leader» Asset Management Company, launched the joint venture «Plastic Geosynthetics» on the base of the «Plastic» company.