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AMUR GCC Project showing the 9 Linde Pyrolysis Furnaces and the Quench Tower | AGCC website

Amur Gas Chemical Complex: Navigating Technology Licensing Challenges

The Amur Gas Chemical Complex (Amur GCC) exemplifies the intricate balance between technological ambition and geopolitical realities. Originally designed to become the world’s largest polymer production site, the project has faced significant delays due to shifts in technology licensing dynamics, even as its core infrastructure advances.

The Amur GCC Project

Amur GCC stands as one of the most ambitious petrochemical undertakings in Russia’s recent history and a flagship of Russian-Chinese industrial cooperation. Located near Svobodny in the Amur region of Russia’s Far East, the project is a joint venture between SIBUR, Russia’s largest petrochemical company, holding a 60% stake, and China’s Sinopec, which owns the remaining 40%. When completed, Amur GCC will be among the world’s largest producers of base polymers, with a design capacity of 2.7 million tonnes per year—2.3 million tonnes of polyethylene and 400,000 tonnes of polypropylene.

The complex is integrated with the broader Amur gas processing and gas chemical cluster, ensuring direct feedstock supply via pipelines. Gazprom’s Amur Gas Processing Plant (Amur GPP), which processes natural gas from East Siberian fields, will supply the primary feedstock to Amur GCC: ethane (up to 2 million t/y), and LPG (propane/butane, ~1.1 million t/y).

Steam Cracker and Downstream Progress

At the heart of the complex lies its 2.3 million t/y ethylene plant, supplied and partially engineered by Linde before the German firm’s confirmed withdrawal in 2022. Linde’s contributions included delivering critical components like the 1,500-ton quench tower, transported from South Korea to the remote Amur site—a logistical triumph showcased in earlier project updates.



Quench tower delivery to AMUR GCC, Nov 2021 | Credit: Linde Engineering 

By January 2024, SIBUR released a progress video on AGCC status update as of December 2023, confirming that polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) production units were being deployed as originally planned. The footage shows equipment installation for these downstream facilities, suggesting that proprietary technologies from Western licensors—Univation (Unipol PE gas-phase plants), ChevronPhillips Chemical (PE slurry process, undefined if MarTECH Single Loop or Advanced Dual Loop), and LyondellBasell (Spheripol PP Technology)—remain integral to the project. This indicates that either licensing agreements persisted post-2022 or SIBUR/Sinopec retained rights to use the technologies despite licensors’ reduced involvement.



Amur GCC Progress Video, Jan 2024. Reactor in this screenshot is a Slurry Loop Reactor | Credit: Sibur

Licensing Uncertainties and Delays

While Linde publicly exited the project by July 2022, when part of the equipment, including the pyrolysis unit, had already been built, SIBUR and Sinopec decided to reconsider the strategy for implementing the project, redesigned it and replaced contractors and license holders for the polyethylene and polypropylene lines. To this date, the status of other Western partners remains ambiguous as public disclosures from SIBUR and Sinopec have not clarified whether CPChem, Univation, or LyondellBasell continue to provide technical support or if their pre-sanction contracts are being honored. The lack of explicit withdrawal announcements contrasts with the project’s two-year delay.



Amur GCC Progress Video, Jan 2024. Reactor in this screenshot is likely a Gas Phase Unipol PE reactor | Credit: Sibur

It is a matter of speculation if SIBUR and Sinopec may be relying on existing licenses, in-house expertise, or third-party intermediaries to proceed with the original technologies. The January 2024 video underscores that downstream unit construction aligns with initial designs, implying that the licensors’ intellectual property is still being utilized, albeit without confirmed active collaboration.

Construction began in August 2020 and mechanical completion has been delayed to 2026 (originally 2024–25). Despite licensing headwinds, the Amur GCC achieved 76% mechanical completion by mid-May 2025 with commercial polyethylene production to start by Q3 2026, polypropylene production and full operations expected to follow in 2027 (source: interfax.com).

Strategic Implications

The Amur GCC’s trajectory highlights the resilience of large-scale petrochemical projects in the face of geopolitical disruptions. While Linde’s exit created logistical and technical gaps, the continued use of Western-designed downstream technologies—whether through preserved licenses or workarounds—demonstrates SIBUR and Sinopec’s commitment to delivering a world-class facility. The complex’s success will hinge on operationalizing these units without direct licensor support, a challenge that could redefine global norms for technology transfer in sanctioned environments. For now, the Amur GCC stands as a testament to both international collaboration’s potential and its fragility in an era of shifting alliances.

#linde  #univation  #lyondellbasell  #chevronphillips  #cpchem  #sibur  #amurgcc  #sinopec 
#steamcracker  #ethyleneplant  #amur  #russia  #unipolpe  #martech  #slurryloop  #gasphasepe  #spheripol  #polyethylene  #polypropylene  #ethane  #lpg 

Polyolefin plants with technologies and capacities have been added.

#lotte #lottechemical  #malaysia  #unipolpe  #univation  #lyondellbasell  #spheripol 

Several assets with their respective technology and production capacity have been added.

#chloralkali #univation  #unipol  #olefinsplant  #steamcracking  #linde  #pvc  #thyssenkrupp  ##uhde #nucera 

Lukoil Stravolen petrochemical producer has been created, some of the technologies added with known capacities.


#lukoil  #stravolen  #univation  #unipolpe  #grace  #unipolpp  #ethyleneplant  #steamcracker  #technip 

Polyolefin plants, technologies and capacities have been added.


#orlen  #unipetrol  #czechia  #unipolpe  #univation  #ineos  #innovene  

Scaling New Heights: How Univation and Industry Rivals Are Redefining Polyethylene Production Capacity and Flexibility

The polyethylene (PE) production industry is experiencing a remarkable transformation, driven by advances in process technology and a relentless pursuit of scale and efficiency. At the center of this evolution is Univation Technologies, which recently announced a new UNIPOL™ PE Process design capable of producing 800,000 tonnes per year. This announcement marks a significant leap forward in the scale of single-line PE production, underscoring the company’s commitment to pushing technological boundaries while maintaining the flexibility to meet diverse market needs.

Univation’s journey toward ever-greater production capacities is a testament to decades of innovation. The company’s first UNIPOL™ PE plant, built in 1989, had a capacity of 225,000 tonnes per year, which at the time was a world record for a single-reactor PE facility. By 2016, the landscape had changed dramatically, with more than twenty operating lines each producing at least 400,000 tonnes per year, and single-line capacities reaching today 650,000 tonnes. The latest 800,000 tonnes per year design represents a substantial 23 percent increase over the previous benchmark, and the scale of this expansion is even more striking when considering that a 150,000-tonne increase is equivalent to the entire output of a typical reactor from the 1970s, highlighting the extraordinary progress that has been made in reactor engineering and process optimization.

A key differentiator for the UNIPOL™ PE Process is its product flexibility, enabled by a sophisticated portfolio of catalysts. By selecting from a dedicated line of catalysts, producers can seamlessly switch between a full spectrum of PE products, including metallocene-based resins, bimodal and unimodal HDPE, and LLDPE, all within the same reactor. This versatility allows manufacturers to respond rapidly to changing market demands without the need for costly and time-consuming reactor modifications, setting UNIPOL™ PE apart from many competing technologies, which often require dedicated lines for each product type.

The race for the world’s highest-capacity PE plant is intensifying, with Univation’s latest announcement coming on the heels of significant developments from Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem). CP Chem’s MarTech™ single-loop slurry process is now being deployed at a massive scale, with the Golden Triangle project in Texas featuring two HDPE lines, each with a capacity of 1,000,000 tonnes (1 million tonnes) per year, and a similar scale project with two HDPE lines, each with a capacity of 850,000 tonnes per year at the Ras Laffan Petrochemical Complex in Qatar. While CPChem has focused on maximizing HDPE production through specialized lines, Univation’s approach emphasizes both scale and product diversity, offering producers a compelling combination of flexibility and efficiency.

Achieving such immense reactor capacities is a feat of engineering that cannot be overstated. Scaling up polymerization reactors to handle up to 1 million tonnes per year and beyond requires overcoming significant technical challenges. Advanced cooling systems, real-time temperature controls, and innovative designs are essential to manage the intense heat and mixing requirements of high-throughput polymerization, as well as enhancing operational reliability and efficiency, ensuring that these mega-plants can run safely and consistently at peak performance.

In this rapidly evolving landscape, access to accurate and up-to-date technical information is more important than ever. Platforms like portfolio planning PLUS (ppPLUS) have emerged as invaluable resources for industry professionals, offering open-access, collaborative tools for tracking global PE plant deployments. Through ppPLUS, users can explore detailed information on PE plants worldwide, visualize production clusters, and contribute data on plant capacities, technology choices, and mass balances. This level of transparency and collaboration supports better decision-making and accelerates the adoption of best practices across the industry.

In summary, the latest advances in PE production technology, exemplified by Univation’s 800,000 tonnes per year UNIPOL™ PE Process and CP Chem’s MarTech mega-projects, are redefining the limits of scale and flexibility in polymer manufacturing. These achievements are not only a testament to the ingenuity of process engineers but also a harbinger of a more efficient, responsive, and interconnected global PE industry. As collaborative platforms like ppPLUS continue to democratize access to technical knowledge, the pace of innovation is likely to accelerate, shaping the future of plastics production for decades to come.

#hdpe  #lldpe  #bimodal  #metallocene  #univation  #unipol  #martech  #slurryloop  #gasphase  #massbalance #cpchem  #chevronphillips 

Kazanorgsintez PJSC company and its manufacturing site have been created. Multiple assets have been added. 

#ethyleneplant #technip  #univation  #unipol  #ldpe  #autoclave  #highpressure  #russia  #kazan 

Silleno project has been modelled, with technologies and their respective capacity identified, excepted for the ethylene  dimerization process.
 

#silleno #kazakhstan  #axens  #alphabutol  #cpchem  #martech  #adl  #martechadl  #dualloop  #bimodal  #univation  #unipolpe  #lummus  #steamcracker  #srt  #steamcracking  #gascracker  #ethylene  #polyethylene 

Shell Polymer Monace site has been modelled with its complete mass balance and identification of technologies employed with their production capacities. 


#unipolpe  #univation  #ineos  #slurryloop  #innovene  #linde  #steamcracker  #ecu  #ethane  #gascracker 

The Univation UNIGILITY^TM High-Pressure Tubular Reactor process technology has been added.


#dow  #unioncarbide  #univation  #unigility  #highpressure  #tubularreactor  #lowdensitypolyethylene  #ldpe 

All Polyolefin and EO/EG Technologies from Phase 1 and Phase 2 have been added as well as their production capacities.

#polyethylene  #polypropylene  #ethyleneglycol  #hpeo  #meg   #hdpe  #lldpe  #pp  #ineos  #lupotech  #spheripol  #spherizone  #univation  #unipolpe  #master  #lyondellbasell  #shell  #cnooc  #china  #cspc 

HOUSTON, June 20, 2024 -- Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. ("BPCL") has selected Univation's UNIPOL™ PE Process Technology for two world-scale production lines to be located at BPCL's Bina Refinery site in Madhya Pradesh, India, Univation reports.

The two units are designed to achieve a combined nameplate production capacity of 1,150,000 tons per annum of polyethylene (PE).

The process designs for the two BPCL's reactor lines are engineered with full production back-fill capabilities to maximize manufacturing flexibility, increase PE resin supply continuity, and enable enhanced responsiveness to emerging marketplace needs.

The two BPCL reactor lines will enable production of both high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) products allowing BPCL to meet their customer demands across a wide range of PE applications essential for Indian markets.


#univation  #unipolpe  #india  #bpcl  #binarefinery 

Liwa Plastics Industries Complex (LIPC) has been added, the main technologies have been identified and the mass balance halfway developed.

#lummus  #lyondellbasell  #univation  #unipolpe  #spheripol  #srtsteamcracking  #ethyleneplant  #oman  #oq 

IOCL Paradip refinery

News provided by: Univation Technologies, LLC, Sep 16, 2024

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL), India's largest oil refiner, has selected Univation Technologies' UNIPOL™ PE Process Technology for a new world-scale polyethylene (PE) production line at its Paradip Petrochemical Complex in Odisha, India.

This significant expansion will add a nameplate production capacity of 650,000 tons per annum of PE, significantly boosting IOCL's ability to meet the growing demand for polyethylene in the Indian market. The new line will have the flexibility to produce both linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE), covering a wide range of applications.

IOCL has chosen a combination of Univation's advanced catalysts to achieve this versatility, including:

    UCAT™ J Unimodal HDPE/LLDPE Technology
    PRODIGY™ Bimodal HDPE Technology
    ACCLAIM™ Unimodal HDPE Technology

This strategic selection allows IOCL to cater to both unimodal and bimodal PE market segments, ensuring they can meet stringent performance standards for critical applications like flexible and rigid packaging, high-pressure pipes, and durable goods.

Recognizing the growing importance of metallocene polyethylene in India, IOCL will also utilize Univation's XCAT™ Metallocene Catalysts. This will enable them to produce advanced metallocene PE grades for high-end applications such as robust shipping packaging, high-performance films for food preservation, and sustainable agricultural films.

To ensure optimal operation and efficiency, IOCL will implement Univation's PREMIER™ APC+ 3.0 Advanced Process Control Platform. This platform is designed to enhance process control, optimize raw material yields, and 1 maintain consistent product quality across the entire PE resin grade portfolio.

#unipol  #polyethylene  #bimodal  #metallocene  #univation  #iocl  #india  #indianoilcompany  #paradip  #refinery 

The two Unipol PE plants have been added with their production, to complete the mass balance.


#unipol  #polyethylene  #univation  #fulldensity  #metallocene  #prodigy  #catalyst  #tarim  #ethylene  #dushanzi  #petrochina  #korla 

Several technologies and production capacities have been added to HMEL's Guru Gobind Singh Refinery.

#lummus  #lyondellbasell  #chevronphillipschemical  #cpchem  #p örner #bituros  #asphaltblowing  #steamcracker  #dualfeed  #martech  #novolen  #unipol  #spheripol  #univation  #asphaltblowing