Large-sized columns for a polypropylene-production complex delivered to Russia

St. Petersburg, 26 July 2010. Two slag-purging columns, brought to Russia for the construction of a complex in Tobolsk for the production of polypropylene, have completed customs clearance.

The total length of each column is 38m, the diameter 4.6m, and weight 60 tons. The equipment was made in Korea and sent by sea across the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal to Antwerp (Belgium), where it was loaded and delivered to St. Petersburg. In future, the columns will be sailed on a special barge along the Northern Sea Route to enter the Irtysh.

In total, the construction work in Tobolsk is expected to receive 23 pieces of large-sized heavy equipment. In addition, 2010 alone is expected to see the arrival of more than 650 containers, 100 rail cars and 470 trailers of general goods for the site.

The most massive piece of the oversized equipment is a column for propane dehydrogenation, which is being sent from Korea through the Panama Canal to Arkhangelsk, followed by loading onto a river barge for passage to the Irtysh. Its diameter is 10 meters, length about 100 meters, and weight 1096 tons.

In order to receive such goods in Tobolsk, work has been carried out on the dredging and expansion of the technical capabilities of the river port on the Irtysh River. With its complexity and its utilization of technological and human resources, the delivery of this equipment is unique for the global and Russian petrochemical industry. The capacity of the new facility for the production of polypropylene will be 500,000 tons per year, which will make it one of the largest in the world.