Voronezh, 19 August 2013. SIBUR has launched production of styrene-butadiene thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) – cutting-edge polymer materials for the road building industry and roof coatings – at its Voronezh-based facility. The production facility reached its full design capacity of 50 ktpa.

The process phase of start-up and commissioning operations at the new facility completed with a 72-hour trial run of all the equipment units attended by the licensor's representatives. Each separation line showed the nominal design capacity at the finished products stage.

In its report on the results of the integrated testing, the licensor expressed a high opinion of the quality of construction and installation, general readiness of the TPE-50 facility to commence operations and its full compliance with the technology transferred under the licence. The licensor concludes that "the operating personnel is well-qualified, and the equipment well-prepared ensuring output of high-quality products in the amounts as specified in the framework project."

"The new facility proceeds to operate in the production and maintenance mode," says Viktor Kuklinov, CEO of Voronezhsintezkauchuk. "From now on, the consumers will receive extra volumes of cutting-edge polymer materials for the road building industry and roof coatings."

SIBUR commenced the start-up and commissioning operations at the new facility on 23 May 2013, with the event attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Notes to editors:

Thermoplastic elastomers are materials combining the properties of both rubber and plastics. The most important use of TPEs is production of polymer-modified asphalt cements, which contribute to better durability of upper layers of the road surface. Their use extends the time between repairs from 3-4 years up to 7-10 years. 

Polymer-modified asphalt cements represent a considerable growth opportunity in Russia. Although domestic consumption of polymer-modified asphalt cements grew by a factor of 5.6 between 2009 and 2012 and increased share in the gross domestic asphalt cement market from 1% to 3% over three years, Russia is lagging behind other European countries, USA and Canada. For example, this ratio in Germany exceeds 30%[i].

Styrene-butadiene thermoplastic elastomers are also used to produce roof coatings, composite materials, shoe materials, grouts, adhesives and sealants. 

The planned 85,000 TPE capacity of the Voronezh facility is enough to produce more than 2 Mt of polymer-modified asphalt cements, which in turn is equivalent to more than 20,000 km of four-lane highways – over 50% of Russia’s federal highway network.

SIBUR (www.sibur.com) is a uniquely positioned vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. SIBUR owns and operates Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes, and is a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry. 

As of 31 March 2013, SIBUR operated 27 production sites across Russia, had over 1,500 large customers operating in the energy, automotive, construction, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), chemical and other industries in approximately 60 countries and employed over 30,000 personnel.