SIBUR has started construction of a catalyst factory in Kazan

Construction of SIBUR's catalyst factory started in Kazan on June 26.

According to a company source, the new facility will produce all types of polymerization catalysts necessary to produce the most sought-after synthetic materials: polyethylene and polypropylene. According to experts, the new enterprise will become a truly innovative production facility and will contribute to Russia's technological independence in the production of base polymers.

The factory in Kazan will be the final link in the creation of a full cycle of SIBUR's own production. It begins with laboratory development, piloting and scaling, and ends with tests of finished products and the launch of industrial production, carried out by the company using its own technologies or created jointly with partners — leading scientific organizations in Russia.

"Polyolefin catalysts are chemical compounds that allow us to produce a polymer, in our case, polyethylene and polypropylene. As developers, it is very important for us to look for innovative solutions, new modifiers for catalysts that will allow us to obtain unique polymers with breakthrough properties," explained Kristina Samarova, Head of the polyolefin Synthesis Laboratory at the SIBUR Innovations Research Center.

The new production facility and research center are designed to attract qualified personnel to Tatarstan, which is known for its traditionally high level of petrochemical development. Thanks to this, new career opportunities will open up for young scientists and promising engineering personnel, and the whole country will receive a synergistic effect from the research center, the development and production of catalysts and the industrial production of polymers.

With the opening of the factory, Kazan is becoming a full-fledged polymer hub, unique across the country, the company stressed.

"Joint work with scientific institutes helps to develop domestic technologies that are not inferior to their Western counterparts. One of the promising projects is the development of metallocene catalysts that make it possible to purposefully regulate the molecular structure of polymers and obtain a wide range of new polymer materials with improved characteristics," said Aliya Khusnurialova, Candidate of Chemical Sciences, expert at the Laboratory of Polyolefin Synthesis at the SIBUR Innovations Research Center.

Catalysts are a key component in the petrochemical industry that allows you to manage the quality and properties of polymers and provide a wide range of brands for various industries — transport, construction, agriculture, medicine, food industry, consumer goods. Now, with the opening of the factory, SIBUR will expand its export opportunities for the supply of catalysts, which, according to plans, will produce more than 1,000 tons per year. As a result, the launch of the new production facility will allow SIBUR to fully implement its long-term program to localize production of key catalysts until 2030.

"The catalyst factory will allow us to produce our own catalytic systems in order to further use them at our largest plants: ZapSibNeftekhim, Kazanorgsintez and the Amur Gas Chemical Complex. The implementation of a full cycle of catalyst development and implementation will allow us to produce high—quality, environmentally friendly products for people," explained Vadim Safronov, manager of the design office for the construction of the SIBUR catalyst factory.

The first facilities to be built within the framework of the project will be for the production of chromium catalysts, and at the second stage it is planned to build the production of metallocene catalysts, which are used to produce polyethylene of particularly durable grades. In total, six production lines will operate at the new factory.

An R&D center and a technology scaling center are being built along with the factory. The R&D Center will launch 30 laboratories aimed at developing innovations in the field of catalyst production, including the development of superconstructive plastics and special polymers. The Technology Scaling Center will operate unique pilot plants, including equipment for organic synthesis, equipment for creating heterogeneous catalysts and preparing carriers, and a pilot plant for testing technology for separating multicomponent mixtures on a column with a separation wall. Subsequently, a prototyping center will also be created here, where the necessary parameters will be determined to increase efficiency and accelerate the scaling of their own technologies. This approach will accelerate the development of new technologies and products by more than 25%.

170 specialists are already working in Kazan, 80 of whom have moved to the capital of Tatarstan from Tomsk, where SIBUR's scientific department has been based for more than 15 years. In total, in the R&D center.More than 350 scientists will work there. SIBUR is actively developing cooperation with Kazan National Research Technological University (KNRTU) and Kazan Federal University (KFU). In 2024, a joint laboratory for the development and application of polyolefins was opened at KNRTU. A laboratory for the development and research of heterogeneous catalysts has been established jointly with KFU. A master's degree program in technology scaling will be launched at KNRTU in 2025. Graduates of this program will be able to work at the Technology Scaling Center.

At the moment, the working design of the first two production lines for chromium and metallocene catalysts has already been completed. SIBUR's specialists will be able to estimate the exact amount of investments required to fully launch the planned production facilities only after the design of the remaining four lines is completed. However, it is already known today that investments in the production of chromium catalysts will amount to 11.3 billion rubles.

"Thanks to scientists, only about 20 thousand tons of chemicals ensure the production of 200 million tons of base polymers annually. Polyethylene and polypropylene have become an indispensable part of our lives and have found applications in all sectors — construction, housing and communal services, transport, medicine, agroindustry and others," concluded Nikolai Kolosov, Candidate of Chemical Sciences, Director of Polyolefins at the SIBUR Innovations Research Center.