Services: Engineering support
Period: May 2022 — Present
Client: Irkutsk Polymer Plant LLC
General Client: Irkutsk Oil Company LLC
Irkutsk Polymer Plant (IPP) is the largest project of Irkutsk Oil Company LLC (IOC) and the first plant in Eastern Siberia to produce polymers from ethane. IPP is part of a gas chemical cluster that includes the creation of an integrated system of enterprises for the extraction, processing, transportation, and conversion of gas into high value-added products. The plant's production capacity is 650,000 tons of pelletized polyethylene per year.
The uniqueness of this project is further defined by the following factors:
- Climate
Eastern Siberia, where the polymer plant is being constructed, is 70% covered by permafrost. Winter temperatures drop below -50°C. Under these extreme conditions, the facility is being built on an area exceeding 200 hectares.
- Logistics
It took over two years to prepare for equipment delivery. The polymer production line had to be transported from South Korea. Although rail transport would have been four times shorter, it was not feasible due to the enormous size of the equipment. The cargo was delivered via the Northern Sea Route and up the Lena River to a specially built port in the city of Ust-Kut.
- Equipment Size and Weight
The heaviest unit is the polymerization reactor, shaped like a mace. It weighs 596 tons, stands 44.5 meters tall, and has a diameter of 9.6 meters. In terms of capacity, it has no analogues in the world.
The number of workers at the peak of construction will reach 7,000 people. The financing, which includes the construction of a residential complex for 3,000 people to accommodate the families of the plant workers, amounts to approximately 300 billion rubles.
Its products will be in demand in both domestic and foreign markets, and will be used in a wide variety of fields: medicine, aircraft and automotive industry, industry, construction, agriculture.
