PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2017

PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 04/17 www.petpla.net 63 TRADE SHOW REVIEW Another presentation targeted the Russian PET film and sheets indus- try. Marsel Khanukaev, Commercial Director of SafPlast said that the annual growth rate in this area was about 6%, meaning particularly that PET-G films has seen difficult times, whereas PET-A films have clearly increased. At 55%, SafPlast holds pole position in the manufacture of PET films, followed by Lada-List with 29%. PET projects Two talks threw light on cur- rent major projects in the PET field. Askhat Battalov, Managing Direc- tor of SafPet explained the current status of the planned PET and PTA production in Tartastan. The large plant for there should, according to today’s planning, be in opera- tion by the third quarter of 2019 and by 2020 be running at full capacity (210,000t/a PTA; 250.000t/a PET). Bottle-, food- and fibre-grade PET as well as PTA will be produced by the petrochemical company Nizhnekam- skneftekhim and with Taneco as the supplier of raw materials. The Russian market should thus be independent of imports, in particular from China, as the on-site production brings with it logistical advantages. According to the current status, all planning has been completed and licence agreements signed. Federal approval for construction is still awaited but the project is under way. 70km away from the former Russian textile centre, Ivanovo, a new PET production factory is being built. Igor Sabaev, Commer- cial Director of Polyester Plant Ivanovo spoke about the current state of play of the greenfield pro- ject. Contractual talks are coming to an end and 550 new jobs should be created. The polyester fibres produced there should cover the high demand from the growing home market, for which the import level lies at >60%. The factory’s capacity should be around 175,000t and start in 2020. Technologies Other presentations on the day were concerned with technologies. Stefan Bartz, Vice President Sales at Uhde Inventa-Fischer explained the cost advantages which can develop for polyester producers from using the 2-reactor mega-scale poly- condensation technology. Accord- ing to Bartz their technology offers a determining factor for reducing the producers’ high pressure from costs. Drying solutions for PET treat- ment were presented by Pavel Andrushchuk, Eurasia Head of Sales, Moretto. Using the Moretto drying system, particular mention was made of a homogenous material flow through the hopper at constant speed, to guarantee the same amount of air and heat for each granule. This should also prevent faults in the prod- uct from over-dried granules. Viacheslaw Maschke, Area Sales Manager for Nordson BKG intro- duced the system solution in under- water pelletising. The company’s fully continuous CrystallCut process is said to provide substantial energy sav- ings in comparison with standard PET polymerisation systems by using the thermal energy of the molten polymer in PET pelletising for subsequent crystal- lisation. The Crystall- Cut system inte- grates underwater pelletising, drying, water filtration and direct crystallising and can be used for the recycling of PET as well. Granulating virgin PET with direct crys- tallisation technology was the theme of the presentation from Ralf Herbert, Sales Manager at Maag Automatik . In par- ticular he introduced their underwater pelletising system, Sphero, with its com- ponents for the entire process from plastic melt to the finished pellet, with special mention of the latest generation of gear driven pumps and the thought-through designs for the “moulds”. Conclusion The economic situation in Russia is seeing a turn-around in the areas of stability and growth and also offers prospects for the PET industry. Fibres and film are clearly important but the food packaging area is the main sales market for PET. There is a tempo- rary lull in the filling of beer into PET – traditionally a market for large PET bottles in Russia. Following the hotly- discussed plan from the government, to ban the filling of alcoholic drinks over 0.5l into PET, at the start of the year a compromise solution came into force. According to this, pack sizes in PET up to 1.5l can be used for filling low alcohol drinks, at least initially. www.creonenergy.ru