Vostokkhimvolokno Group, a leading Russian importer of polyester fibres, is set to launch a new €16.6m local plant to produce its own fibre from recycled waste PET bottles.
The St Petersburg-based group plans to formally open its new 24-kilotonne-per-annum (ktpa) capacity operation, constructed on a 3.5 hectare industrial site in the village of Ratmirovo, near Voskresensk in the Moscow region, on 20 September.
Output from the 14,000m2 Voskresensk-Khimvolokno facility is destined to provide polyester fibre for the production of non-woven materials in Russia for use in a wide range of products including technical textiles for construction and automotive, and thread and fabrics employed in light industry.
Vostokkhimvolokno’s project, initiated in 2016, was prompted by federal government measures designed to substitute imports with nationally manufactured materials across Russia’s chemicals sector.
The company is Russia’s biggest importer of PET fibres, selling 50ktpa of the polyester material. Now it plans to turn out its own regular and highly crimped hollow polyester fibres to deliver a Russian-made product to up to half of Russian consumers.
The advent of this production plant transforming PET flakes into fibre has acted to stimulate the development of new companies collecting and processing waste plastic bottles in various regions of Russia.
Voskresensk’s new facility is scheduled to recycle PET from around 800 million waste plastic bottles that it is designed to process a year. The Russian group is reported to be considering plans for a further development there with linked production of textured polyester yarn for the textiles industry and technical applications.
The unit’s imminent launch is expected to lead to the eventual creation of in the region of 130 direct jobs.
Vostokkhimvolokno group was planning to carry out certification of the company’s quality system in accordance with ISO standards.