Irkutsk Polymer Plant begins ethane-fed startup
Irkutsk Polymer Plant begins using its own ethane during startup after prior externally supplied feedstock trials, with commercial product targeted for H1 2025.
Ethane-fed startup begins
Irkutsk Oil Company has begun starting up the Irkutsk Polymer Plant after completing its main pre-commissioning work. Ethane is entering the facility as it proceeds through operating adjustments using the company’s own hydrocarbon feedstock.
The next stages involve producing polymerization-quality commercial ethylene and feeding it into the gas-phase polymerization unit. The company expects its first batch of finished product in the first half of 2025. That schedule remains a target during startup.
The plant is the third phase of INK’s gas project in northern Irkutsk Region, which began in 2014. Its construction cost was previously estimated at approximately 250 billion rubles.
The commissioning process follows earlier equipment trials. In December 2024, the plant produced polyethylene pellets with externally supplied feedstock. The earlier tests covered equipment needed for polymerization.
Engineering contract and production units
Toyo Engineering received the engineering contract for the Ust-Kut complex in Russia in January 2019. Its scope included engineering, procurement and technical advice for pre-commissioning and commissioning. At the time of the contract, Irkutsk Polymer Plant was a wholly owned subsidiary of Irkutsk Oil Company.
The engineering package comprised two licensed production units, each specified separately:
- An ethylene plant using Lummus Technology, with capacity of 650,000 tonnes annually;
- A polyethylene plant using Univation Technologies, also specified at 650,000 tonnes annually.
Toyo’s cooperation with INK began in 2011 under a General Engineering Service Agreement covering advice, planning and industrial modernization support. The companies signed a gas-chemical-complex cooperation agreement in September 2018 at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. The January contract announcement followed that agreement.
The December trials included an extruder, a recycle-gas compressor and a circulation-gas compressor. Externally supplied feedstock allowed the company to test the process chain and assess its readiness to receive its own feedstock at the polyethylene installation.
Testing and operating footprint
Electricians, engineers, mechanical-service specialists, operating personnel, builders and commissioning staff took part in producing the first pellets. The company’s December announcement already placed the planned plant launch in the first half of 2025.
Irkutsk Oil Company was established in 2000. Its hydrocarbon exploration and development activities cover the Irkutsk Region, Krasnoyarsk Region and Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The company identifies automotive manufacturing, medicine and consumer goods among possible uses for the plant’s polyethylene.
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