Chapaevsk, Russia -Promsintez intends to be the first producer of diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) in Russia with a new plant planned for its site in Chapevsk, Samara, said a company spokesman.
Viktor Maksimov, general director of the plant, said initial plans are for a 60-70,000 tonne/year plant to go into production in mid-2016, "The construction works will be launched in 2014. It will be carried out for about two and a half years. According to our estimations, the project will pay for itself in five years," he said.
Maksimov added: "We are talking about tens and hundreds of thousands tons of [MDI] demand in the Russian Federation each year."
Promsintez plans to invest 5 - 6 billion roubles (US$170-200m) in the expansion. "Partially, this investment will consist of the funds of the owners of Promsintez and partially from loans from Russian. Negotiations with the banks are underway," added Maximov.
Promsintez, which started producing nitrobenzene commercially in 1998, claims to be Russia's largest nitrobenzene supplier. The new MDI plant will integrated into this raw material, under the plans.
There are several isocyanate producers in Russia, Maksimov said, but they produce TDI. This plant will give Russians the opportunity to purchase locally-sourced MDI for the first time. Additionally, it will enable Russia to retain the financial capital within its borders and increase the number of jobs in the Chapaevsk city.
Promsintez considered making raw materials for polyurethane in 2005, but the project was shelved because it was impossible to raise the capital needed, the firm said.
Open Joint Stock Company Promsintez was created in February 1997 on the basis of OJS Polymer, which made explosives. This was a successor of the Soviet explosives plant in at Samara, which was founded by the Military Council at the War Ministry of the Russian Empire in 1911. In 1998 in the plant it was initiated the production of nitrobenzene - the basis for the manufacture of aniline, dyes and polymers.
