“Rossiyskaya Gazeta”: The AO GC Titan has successfully completed another modernization stage of the organic synthesis production”

The AO GC Titan is a company of Omsk origin. It has grown from a small organization into a large industrial complex. The enterprises of the Group of companies are operating today in different regions of Russia. However, the native Siberian site continues to play a key role in the fate of the enterprise, contributing Titan to successfully integrate into the Strategy for the chemical industry development.

The AO "Omsky kauchuk”, one of the largest petrochemical enterprises of the Group of Companies, significantly contributes to the activities of the AO GC Titan and confidently continues to implement the modernization program. The company solves problems related to improving reliability, safety, automation of processes. It also implements fundamentally new projects aimed at processing of hydrocarbons improvement and producing a wide range of import-substituting products.

Today, the company is moving to its 60th anniversary, which it will celebrate exactly in one year. For nine months the total production volume has amounted to almost 400 thousand tons of products. The plant is also a major contributor to the Group's total tax payments.

One of the most large-scale modern projects of “Omsky kauchuk” is the modernization of organic synthesis production. The project started with phenol and acetone production revamp. Then the reconstruction program of cumene (isopropylbenzene) production with isopropyl alcohol unit (IPA) followed. And now the plant is making new plans.

In October the AO Group of companies Titan has been permitted to commission the cumene and isopropanol production.

“I congratulate the whole team of the AO GC Titan on this significant event! This is a real victory for us and for the region since such a large-scale project for cumene production reconstruction is aimed at every production stage improving, including in terms of environmental protection,” Chairman of the Board of Directors of the AO GC Titan Mikhail SUTYAGINSKY commented.

We should add that within this project the AO “Omsky kauchuk” became the first enterprise in Omsk to obtain the approval for new and revamped units.

According to experts, the project is very promising. It is of great importance not only for the AO GC Titan, but also for the whole country, since the launch of IPA production made it possible to significantly reduce the share of imported isopropyl alcohol consumption and provide Russian enterprises with high-quality raw materials.

"Due to the new facilities, the production of isopropanol in the country will increase more than 2.5 times, up to almost 100 thousand tons per year. The AO “Omsky kauchuk” will be able to cover more than half of the market," Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said in January 2021 at the opening of isopropanol production.  “We have already signed an agreement with the AO “Omskiy Kauchuk” on implementation of the competitiveness enhancement program within the national project "International Cooperation and Export". The volume of alcohol shipped for export in 2024 will be about three billion rubles. I would also like to mention the environmental effect of this project. Using modern technologies and the newest domestic equipment ensures practically complete absence of effluents and minimal impact on the environment".

"It is important that Omsk isopropanol will be of high quality and will be used in medicine, pharmacy, in the production of antiseptics, which are so important during the pandemic,” the governor of Omsk region, Alexander Burkov, added at the event.  “This project is also important for the region because it will create new jobs, and the tax base will grow by almost half a billion rubles”.

According to scientists, isopropanol antiseptic effect is stronger than ethanol antiseptic one, and no surprise that World Health Organization (WHO) has included IPA in antiseptic formulas.

Moreover, IPA is highly in demand in the auto chemistry segment. The products made of it are effective and human safe. And now isopropanol will also be used for the automotive chemicals production at the “Titan-SM”, LLC (part of the AO GC Titan)

Earlier, in January 2020, Denis Manturov and Alexander Burkov participated in the opening ceremony of phenol and acetone production at the AO “Omsky kauchuk” during Omsk-Moscow online meeting.

This project was implemented with the support of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade and with a loan from the Industry Development Fund. A relevant specialty occupation was opened on the basis of Omsk Industrial and Economic College. The project participants were also entrepreneurs - suppliers of technological equipment, construction and specialized installation organizations from Russian regions, including Tatarstan and Bashkortostan.

Thus, the Group of companies has completed another important stage of the project for comprehensive modernization of the organic synthesis production. Revamped cumene, phenol and acetone production units have been launched. Availability of basic high quality raw materials allows moving to the implementation of the project on epoxy resins production establishment, the strategic material for the domestic industry.

The industrialists shared their new ideas with the experts at Moscow International Chemical Forum held within the framework of the Chemistry-2021 exhibition.

“We have plans to arrange a large complex including epichlorohydrin production - one of the epoxy resins components – with a capacity of over 50 thousand tons per year with a sodium chloride electrolysis. Unlike the previous outdated scheme for obtaining epichlorohydrin from propylene, we offer technology for obtaining this substance from glycerol. It will help us to involve renewable sources of raw materials (oilseeds) in production,” Mikhail Sutyaginsky reported.

He also noted that the project had high environmental characteristics. The new technology will allow to completely eliminate wastewater discharge. The complete innovative production chain will allow the wastewater to be fully treated and returned to the plant.

The project of epoxy resins production will significantly contribute to import substitution. Currently the world production of this product is about four million tons per year.

“Today the epoxy resins market in Russia is estimated at about 75,000 tons per year.  Start-up of such production with a wide range of brands will allow us to fully cover the needs of Russian manufacturers,” Mikhail Sutyaginsky considers.  “It is assumed that 70 percent of the equipment used in the new production will be made in Russia”.

“I'm sure we need to support projects like this, it's a task for the whole chemical industry. We are almost 90 percent dependent on imports for epoxy resins. We are thankful to you for taking on such a serious work. You're thinking years ahead,” Victor Ivanov, President of the Russian Union of Chemists commented.

The company pays priority attention to environmental issues, constantly improving existing production facilities. The separate one is the reduction of carbon footprint. The "Clean Air Formula" program is devoted to this topic. We are talking about the production of high-octane fuel components; use them will make it possible to reduce emissions of harmful substances from motor transport by up to 40% - one of the main sources of emissions in cities with millions of people. The ethyl tert-butyl ether proposed for production under this project will improve the environmental characteristics of gasoline.

According to experts, this component will reduce automotive emissions by 2-2,5 billion tons in the Russian Federation.  The project is also supposed to save natural gas (467 million m³) and oil (1,5 million tons) by replacing methanol with ethanol of plant origin. Thus, methanol emissions into the environment are prevented.  This project is also remarkable that Omsk enterprises will be able to achieve the goals of reducing air emissions set by the Federal Clean Air Project, in cooperation.

Source: 29.10.2021, Rossiyskaya Gazeta"

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