BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
A new plant for the production of methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE) worth 13.7 billion tenge ($36.4 million) will be constructed in Kazakhstan’s Shymkent city, Trend reports with reference to the press office of Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK).
DBK has provided a loan of 9 billion tenge ($23.9 million) for up to 10 years, and the remaining 4.7 billion tenge ($12.5 million) will be invested by Shymkent chemical company LLP (ShChC).
The annual capacity of the plant will be 57,000 tons of MTBE. Completion of construction and installation works of the plant is scheduled for mid-2020. After the project is implemented, about 152 new jobs will be created at the plant.
The financing provided by the bank will be used for the design, construction and installation of the plant, as well as the purchase of equipment.
“The goal of the project is to develop the petrochemical industry in Kazakhstan by increasing the depth of processing of petrochemical raw materials obtained during processing at Shymkent oil refinery (SHOR) as part of its modernization. Further processing of the butane-butylene fraction at the ShChC plant will allow to organize the production of methyl-tert butyl ether, which will be used by SHOR for the production of high-octane gasoline of environmental classes K4 and K5,” the report said.
According to Duman Aubakirov, Deputy Chairman of the DBK Board, the implementation of this project will also meet the needs of the domestic market in MTBE.
The annual demand of the Kazakhstan market for octane-boosting additives is 80,000 tons. To date, there is only one MTBE production facility with a capacity of 20,000 tons per year in Kazakhstan.
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