Moscow, 28 May 2020. Dioctyl terephthalate (DOTP) made at SIBUR-Khimprom in Perm has been certified under the European Pharmacopoeia standards for the medical and pharmacological industries.

The corresponding certificate allowed SIBUR to expand into the segment of medical compounds abroad.

Given the COVID-19 pandemic and enormous rise in demand for disposable protective medical items and equipment, many processors have switched from technical compounds to medical ones.

For instance, a Serbian company that is also a customer of SIBUR started producing medical compounds for surgical masks to be used by hospital staff treating coronavirus patients. The mask body is made from a medical compound based on SIBUR's PVC and DOTP. Such masks come with a replaceable filter and can be used up to five times.  In May, they have been shipped to the UK, Croatia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Romania.

An Eastern European company has set up one of its production lines to make medical compounds using SIBUR’s DOTP. Following successful tests in a customer laboratory, the compound is now being supplied to ventilator mask manufacturers in Western Europe. 

In Russia, DOTP is a popular product that has been replacing the previously-used DOP plasticiser thanks to its superior medical properties, such as zero phthalate content, low volatility, and absence of smell. For example, it is used to make plastic containers for transfusion of blood and its components. The Russian-made medical compound and items based on it have been certified by the country's Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare (Roszdravnadzor), which attests to the high quality of SIBUR's DOTP plasticiser. Medical items produced in Russia using this plasticiser have gained incredible traction, especially amid the pandemic. SIBUR plans to promote the use of DOTP in medical items, building on its European success.