OREANDA-NEWS  On 19 February was announced, that despite of burst of global financial and economic crisis, Nizhnekamskneftekhim Inc. commissioned another new plant for production of plastics. The first batch of commercial polyethylene was produced at the polyolefins plant on February 3, 2009. At present the process is being adjusted for production of high density polyethylene, grade PE4050Q . Thereby within the framework of advanced program of development Nizhnekamskneftekhim Inc. completed the program for organization of manufacture of new products for the Republic of Tatarstan such as polystyrene, polypropylene and polyethylene.

The process of polyethylene production using the Spherilene gas-phase technology was developed on the basis of the project of process Licensor - LyondellBasell (Italy) , and it was implemented on the polyethylene production plant having the capacity of 230 thousand tons of polymer a year based on the project of Tecnimont (Italy) .

Nizhnekamsk plant is intended for manufacture of granular polyethylene of black and natural colors, and certain grades have never been produced in the Russian Federation before. The implemented polymerization system has no analogy in domestic practice.

This plant is unique not only in terms of the product mix but also from the point of view of profitability: the share of power generation sector in the cost price of Nizhnekamsk polyethylene constitutes only 3.5%. Therefore, proceeding from the ratio of the cost price and quality Nizhnekamsk polyethylene could successfully compete with foreign equivalent products in the Russian market.

The project makes provision for production of the following types of plastics:

- linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), density 0.915-0.935 g/cm3;

- medium-density polyethylene (MDPE), density 0.925-0.940 g/cm3;

- high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with low molecular weight distribution, density 0.940-0.965 g/cm3;

- high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with wide molecular weight distribution, density 0.940-0.965 g/cm3.

The range of linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and medium-density polyethylene (MDPE) shall include the grades suitable for production of compositions, films, items of blow-out, injection and rotational molding.

The range of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) shall include the grades intended for blow-out, rotational and injection molding, for production of pipes, films, compositions, threads and fibers.

After commissioning of the new production plant Nizhnekamskneftekhim Inc. successfully accomplished the program of transition from production of monomers to polymers. As of today the company's total capacity of plastics production is 600 thousand tons a year.

Along with implementation of this program, a goal-oriented work goes on in the company to master new rubber grades. While in 1999 the company produced only 2 types of rubber (butyl and isoprene), now 7 grades are produced (butyl, chlorobutyl and bromobutyl, isoprene, polybutadiene on neodymium and lithium catalysts, ethylene-propylene), used for making tires and unique plastics. At present the total capacity of rubber production at Nizhnekamskneftekhim Inc. is over 550 thousand tons.