Construction of Pilot Production of Catalysts Planned for 2022

The start of construction of Center of Collective Use “Pilot Production of Catalysts” (CCU PPC) based in Boreskov Institute of Catalysis is planned for 2022; by this time the federal financing is expected to be granted. In the Center the scientists will develop, test and scale the catalytic technologies for their use at the industrial level.

CCU PPC is the infrastructure for accelerated major transition from development of catalysts of new generation at the laboratory level to their industrial introduction. The Center is established for the development of catalysts and pilot adjustment of the technology of their manufacturing that can be later adapted for the Russian catalyst plants. The project is in the list of five projects approved by the Federation Council in the end of 2019 within the framework of Akademgorodok 2.0 program. The necessary state financing for construction of the Center is 2.8 bln rubles. The additional 700 mln rubles for the equipment would be raised with the help of industrial partners. The Center is planned to be built in three years.

“If not for the pandemic, the financing for the CCU PPC could have been received in the past year already. We have the schematic design, business plan, and technical specifications for the project. We determined the partners we would like to collaborate with, and we plan to build the Center in three years”, — said Dr. Vadim YAKOVLEV, Head of the Engineering Center of BIC.

He noted that the Project sparked interest in Gazprom neft, SIBUR, Rosneft, Tatneft, FosAgro, Metafraks, Uralkhim and other large Russian companies.

The idea to create the CCU PPC appeared due to import substitution. Today the domestic oil processing uses 60-70% of imported catalysts, and the manufacturing of nitrogen fertilizers and polymers, more than 90%.

“One of our tasks is import substitution. It is related with the economical safety of Russia, since the basic chemical processes involve mainly imported catalysts. But the problem is also in that the final consumer needs the ready technologies and guaranteed quality of the catalysts. It is impossible to pass from the laboratory to the industrial level at once, this process requires to go through the stages of scaling, and these guarantee the quality of the production”, — added Yakovlev.

The CCU PPC will consist of two buildings — pilot plant for catalysts production and the plants of high pressure to test the developments. The Center is planned to be located on the territory of Boreskov Institute of Catalysis. The work will involve 230 highly qualified specialists.