Irkutsk Polymer Plant Completes the First Stage of Silos Installation Work
“The first group of silos, currently being installed, are used as buffers for polyethylene powder. Polyethylene powder is needed to start the polymerization reactor. After the reactor starts up, polyethylene powder is accumulated in the silos for future start-ups and transitions from grade to grade,” explained Maxim Pavlov, Irkutsk Polymer Plant’s Head of Construction Projects for Polymer Production Facilities.
One silo is also designed to feed polyethylene powder to the extrusion line. After polyethylene is turned into pellets after extrusion, homogenization begins: all polyethylene pellets are evenly mixed in homogenizer silos, and a batch of polyethylene is obtained, ready to be moved to the batching silos of finished product, which further goes to the packaging line.
At the moment four units of equipment are installed on the construction site, and a total of 16 silos will be installed at the Irkutsk Polymer Plant. It is planned that the assembly of equipment will be completed by February 2022. By Spring 2022, the plan is to mount bins on equipment structures.
The work began in August 2021, at a designated site of the polymer plant. The equipment was manufactured in the Netherlands and delivered to Ust-Kut under a contract with Toyo Engineering. Because of their large size, the silos were delivered unassembled. The largest unit is more than 30 meters long, more than 7 meters in diameter, and weighs 24 tons.
Specialists from the Netherlands, Brazil, Czech Republic, Russia, and Japan are assembling and installing the equipment. Employees of the contractor Gemont (Turkey) are involved in loading and unloading, as well as moving the inflatable hangars, so that silo welding continues in rain and snow conditions, and at low temperatures.
Installation work on 1,100 units of low-tonnage equipment is underway. Installation of the heavy-lift equipment, which includes 44 units, was completed in September 2021.
Irkutsk Oil Company is building a polymer plant in Ust-Kut as part of a gas- chemical cluster that includes facilities for gas production, treatment, transportation, and processing. The production capacity is expected to top 650 thousand tons of commercial grade polyethylene per year. Toyo Engineering, a Japanese engineering company, is involved in the construction and is responsible for engineering, equipment, and material supply. Gemont is the general contractor for the construction of the polyethylene and ethylene plants. Thanks to the launch of the facility, 1,600 new jobs will be created in the Ust-Kut district.
Irkutsk Oil Company is one of the largest independent producers of hydrocarbons in Russia. The company was established in 2000 and is engaged in prospecting, exploration and development of 52 license blocks in Irkutsk region, Krasnoyarsk region and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Irkutsk Oil Company’s largest investment project is the gas chemical cluster, which the company is implementing in Ust-Kut. It includes gas production, treatment, transportation, and processing facilities, two helium plants, and Irkutsk Polymer Plant. The total number of employees of the company is more than 10 thousand people.
Теги: Иркутская нефтяная компания, ИЗП
