Kazanorgsintez’s reactor modernisation passes ecological test

About 8,000 tonnes of hydrocarbon gases will go back to production after modernisation

Citizens of Kazan as well as representatives of the administration of Kirov and Moscow District visited the second public hearing on the beginning of modernisation of Reactor B in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) manufacturing and processing plant in the assembly hall of the V. Lushnikov Kazan Petrochemical College. Reactor B whose modernisation will begin next year is the last out of three units in the low-density polyethylene plant that hasn’t been upgraded. The first two reactors were reconstructed in 2004-2006.

Like before the reconstruction of Reactor B, Kazanorgsintez did an ecological examination and evaluated the environmental impact in the project’s documentation according to Federal Law No. 7 On Environmental Protection and No. 174 On Ecological Examination. The data of the environmental impact were also made public. Now Reactor B, as well as Reactors A and C, is planned not only to be upgraded but also equipped with a waste gas recovery system.

According to the data about the environmental impact made public during the second hearing, Roman Yelyushin, deputy director of Department of Ecology at Kazanorgsintez PJSC, said that the environmental impact will reduce after Reactor B is upgraded, as the implementation of the project would allow returning 8,760 tonnes of hydrocarbon gases to the manufacturing process, not to send them to the flare. Combustion emissions are to reduce by 210 tonnes a year in general.

Reduction of negative environmental impact

The implementation of projects like the modernisation of Reactor B in the LDPE Plant at Kazanorgsintez has not only an economic but also an ecological advantage. According to permitting documents for enterprise now, the norm of emissions of contaminating substances into the atmosphere is 15,000 tonnes. However, according to a statistical report updated at Kazanorgsintez every year, the average amount of emissions reaches 10,000 tonnes.

“LDPE reactors are often called the heart of Kazanorgsintez. And if two units have already been modernised since 2004, little heart surgery has left, which will improve both the ecological and economic component. We all, citizens of Kazan, work and live in this city and consider the coverage of such issues topical,” Roman Yelyushin said on the hearing.

Chairman of the Tatarstan Republican Committee of the Russian Petrochemists’ Trade Union Aleksey Ilyin also noted the importance of modernisation of Reactor B.

“I witnessed the modernisation of Reactors A and C. Then it significantly influenced the economy, increased ecological safety and created new jobs. Of course, modernisation didn’t take place only in the LDPE plant. A large-scale reconstruction included all plants, launch of new capacities, construction of plants. Ecology significantly improved at that moment. The difference was especially seen when people had been working in the factory since the 60s came to the shops. This time productivity will also increase and emissions will reduce thanks to the project of reactor modernisation,” Aleksey Ilyin said.

The annual growth of plants and capacities of Kazanorgsintez doesn’t influence the amount of the enterprise’s negative environmental impact but reduces it. So the limits on emissions for Kazanorgsintez were set at the level of 55,000 tonnes a year, in fact, there are much fewer emissions — 25-27,000 tonnes a year.

As for wastewater discharge into rivers, all sewage goes to the neutralisation and purification shop where they undergo mechanical and biological treatment. Industrial storm water gets to a macrofiltration system, then treated water goes to feed the enterprise’s water systems. “We try to introduce closed technologies. So we take less water from the Volga River and discharge less used water,” Roman Yelyushin noted.

Reactor B modernisation’s payback period is about five years

Construction works in Reactor B are scheduled for 2020. The unit will run with a new scheme in three years. It is meant to increase the reactor’s capacity from 70 to 220,000 tonnes a year after the upgrade. The modernisation project’s payback period is about five years.

It should be noted that Kazanorgsintez annually allocates about 200 million rubles for environmental protection measures, excluding the financing of the enterprise’s modernisation. Last year, the enterprise sent 12 billion rubles for a major overhaul of facilities, substitution and upgrade of the equipment, which is 1,5 times more than in 2017.