OREANDA-NEWS. SIBUR has started the preparatory stage of an investment project to ramp up the production of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a high-octane petrol additive, at its production site in Togliatti.

The project will see the construction of a new MTBE unit, with the site's capacity expected to grow from 75 ktpa to 135 ktpa.

At the current stage, SIBUR is setting up the construction site and developing project documents and terms of reference for a tender to purchase long lead equipment.

Under the project, the Togliatti site will receive 58 units of new equipment. For better efficiency and safety, the existing and new equipment will have automated controls of process flows. The company will use the latest design and construction approaches to make sure the new equipment takes up twice as little space as the existing solutions.

To provide raw materials for the expanded MTBE production, the output of the isobutane–isobutylene fraction will be increased from 105 ktpa to 130 ktpa.

Methyl tertiary butyl ether is an effective component of motor fuel designed to raise the octane number of petrol and prevent engine knocking. With MTBE a popular product in the fuels market, SIBUR is currently engaged in expanding its MTBE capacities to meet the industry's need for octane number boosting components.

In 2011, SIBUR completed a project to grow the MTBE output at its Tobolsk facility from 120 ktpa to 150 ktpa, followed by a capacity ramp-up at the Tchaikovsky site (Perm Territory) from 200 ktpa to 220 ktpa in 2012. Today, SIBUR's total MTBE capacity stands at 500 ktpa.