News Analysis: Russia's growing PU industry dives onwards

Recently, the Russian government announced plans to promote polyurethane in construction, to set up polyurethane recycling, and has announced plans to try and set up diisocyanate production in Russia along with tighter rules for HCFCs in the country. 

Moscow -- The steadily rising demand for polyurethane in Russia is leading to greater investment and encouragement from the government.

Government interest in the sector is driven by steadily growing demand and is matched by interest from investors.

These investments reflect the recovery of Russia from the financial crisis, caused by Western sanctions, according to leading Russian polyurethane producers and experts from the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Denis Manturov, the Russian Minister of Industry and Trade, is responsible for the development of polyurethane industry. His department said that the current demand growth across manufacturing in Russia is probably the biggest in construction. His spokesman added that polyurethane is the industrial sector which is growing fastest.

The majority of Russian polyurethane producers are aware of these trends, and are planning to increase production this year.

For example, TekhnoNIKOL, which claims to be Europe’s largest manufacturer of roofing, waterproofing and thermal insulation materials, has announced plans to build a polyurethane construction products factory near Chelyabinsk.

Chelyabinsk is about 1600 km (1000 miles) east of Moscow.

Yevgeny Voylov, Vice President of TechnoNICOL Corporation, explained:  ‘There is a great interest for building polyurethanes in Russia. To date, domestic production of these materials has been insignificant, while the bulk of the market came from imports. There is a possibility this will change in the coming years.’

Voylov said that when production starts near Chelyabinsk. ‘This will ensure import substitution of building polyurethanes in Russia,’ he said. ‘The new products will be of the highest quality.’

On 8 September 2017, TechnoNICOL commissioned a PIR insulation plant near Ryazan, 11o miles (180 km)  southwest of Moscow. This has production capacity of  30 km² (11.5 sq mile)/year.

At the same time, producers and the national government want to expand production of raw materials.

In addition to plans announced by Sibur to build diisocyanate production once national demand reached 60o kT/year, the government plans to encourage propylene oxide and polyether production. This could be at Nizhnekamskneftekhim, one of Russia’s largest petrochemical producers.

Moreover, there are also plans for the production of propylene oxide. This could be done using the peroxide method. Evonik announced plans to build such a facility in Russia; however, the company finally decided to build a300 kT/year plant in China. In Soviet times, there were polyester polyol producers in the Roshal, Rubezhny and Kazan regions of the country. None of these materials are produced in Russia on an industrial scale at present.

Finally, the Russian government plans to create conditions for the increase of production of adipic acid, butanediol and acrylic polyols.