Irkutsk Polymer Plant, LLC has selected Univation Technologies’ (Houston; www.univation.com) UNIPOL PE Technology for a polyethylene (PE) plant to be located in Ust-Kut, Irkutsk region, in the Russian Federation. The new plant is slated to produce 650,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of PE.
The new world-scale PE Plant has a full-density range of PE resin product capability allowing Irkutsk Polymer Plant to access a broad array of HDPE and LLDPE product applications in both domestic and export markets.
Additionally, Irkutsk Polymer Plant elected to utilize Univation’s advanced resin product technology, including PRODIGY Bimodal HDPE Technology with production capability for bimodal applications, such as ISO certified PE100 pipe, high-performance bimodal films and light-weighted bimodal blow molding bottles for Household, Industrial & Chemical (HIC) applications. Irkutsk Polymer Plant also selected Univation’s ACCLAIM Unimodal HDPE Technology with capability to produce advanced unimodal products including durable unimodal HDPE PE80 pipe, high environmental stress-crack resistance (ESCR) large-part blow-molded (LPBM) drums and heavy-duty HDPE film liners.
Irkutsk Polymer Plant is also accessing Univation’s advanced process control system, PREMIERAPC+ 2.0, which provides state-of-the-art process control and economic optimization capability for the UNIPOL PE Process. To enhance the training of its operations staff, Irkutsk Polymer Plant will utilize UNIPOL PE Virtual Process Software (UVPS) which is Univation’s latest platform for virtual plant simulation training for the UNIPOL PE Process.
“We are excited about this new world-scale PE Plant now underway by Irkutsk Polymer Plant and very pleased Univation was selected as their PE licensor for this important project,” said Dr. Steven Stanley, president of Univation Technologies. “This plant will provide Irkutsk Polymer Plant with the proven technology to deliver high performance products, consistent quality and maximum single-line capacity to produce both HDPE and LLDPE resins critical to meet Russian domestic needs and, importantly, demand growth in key export regions.”
Mr. Egor Fomin, director of Irkutsk Polymer Plant, commented, “Providing significant, high-quality PE resins to supply both Russian and export markets needs was an important objective for the Irkutsk Polymer Plant, and this new UNIPOL™ PE Plant creates the world-scale capacity required to achieve that goal.” Mr. Fomin added, “Project teams from both Irkutsk Polymer Plant and Univation Technologies have already formed productive, collaborative relationships, and we are pleased with the close support Univation had provided for this project as we move into design and construction phases, and as we look ahead to a successful plant start-up.”