MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR-Khimprom (Perm) plans to expand its presence in the Russian petrochemical market by delivering styrene monomer (SM) by road from Perm, reported Business Class.
Traditionally, SIBUR-Khimprom ships SM to customers in rail tank cars. Shipments by road will allow the company to meet the needs of customers who require small quantities of material.
"The shipment of styrene by road tank cars is necessary, first of all, for small enterprises with moderate consumption of SM in production, which do not have their own storage facilities. We fill a railway tank car with 66 cubic meters of products, and a car tank holds no more than 22 cubic meters, such volumes are of interest to many small- and medium-sized enterprises, "said Oleg Gryaznov, SIBUR-Khimprom's leading engineer.
According to the calculations of SIBUR-Khimprom experts, SM shipments by road will allow the company to increase the number of customers at the expense of the Central and Volga regions, where it will be profitable to deliver material by road from Perm, as well as by concluding small-scale deals with small businesses.
At present, the commissioning works at SIBUR-Khimprom, which will allow to start shipments of styrene by road tank cars, have already been fully completed.
The idea to ship SM by road was approved by the investment committee and implemented within two years. According to experts, its implementation will allow the plant to increase its sales of SM by 2,500-3,000 tonnes per year.
Commissioning works started at the beginning of 2021. The first SM shipment in a road tank car took place in May 2021.
As MRC reported earlier, SIBUR-Khimprom also produces dioctyl terephthalate (DOTP) - a special eco-friendly phthalate-free PVC plasticizer for general use in the amount of up to 100,000 tonnes per year. The final investment decision on the construction of a DOTP line at SIBUR's site in Perm was made in April 2017, and production was launched in the second quarter of 2019.
SM is the main feedstock for the production of polystyrene (PS).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics totalled 236,110 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, up by 27% year on year (172,360 tonnes). May estimated consumption in the country was 48,880 tonnes, up by 66% year on year.
OAO SIBUR Holding is the largest petrochemical company in Russia and Eastern Europe with full coverage of the industry cycle from gas processing, production of monomers, plastics and synthetic rubbers to plastics processing.
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