Sibur opens styrenics complex

Sibur-Khimprom, the Perm-based subsidiary of the Sibur Holding petrochemical company, has inaugurated its styrenics integrated facility. The complex including facilities for manufacturing ethyl-benzene, styrene and expandable polystyrene was officially opened on November 9. Total investments in the upgrading project and new capacities surpassed 8 billion roubles, according to Sibur. The ethyl-benzene with a capacity of 220,000 tpa uses a license from the U.S. firm The Badger Licensing LLC. The existing 120,000 tpa unit using outdated technologies will soon be decommissioned, Sibur said on its website. The upgrading of the styrene manufacturing facility added 100,000 tpa. The current capacity of the unit is 135,000 tpa. The new plant for the Alphapor™ expandable polystyrene with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes per year will use a technology from the Austro-Norwegian company Sunpor.

Ekaterina Kraeva, director general of RCC Group.
Yuri Frei, representative of OAO Tatneftekhiminvest-Holding in the EU.
On possible adoption of EN-DIN standards in the Russian Federation and outlooks for the expansion of the domestic polymer products market

About 90% of DIN standards developed by the German Institute of Standardization have been recognized by the international community. Those standards cover residential and industrial construction, road building, pipelines, packaging and transportation, principles of facility operation in Germany and across the EU.

The Association of Plastic Converters, the organising committees of the Moscow International Chemical Summit and the 4th Russian Congress of Plastic Converters address the Russian government with a proposal to adopt DIN standards in long-distance and municipal road-building and pipeline laying. This measure could result in an essential increase of sales of high performance polymers and composites in the domestic market, thus giving a powerful impetus to plastic processing.