New production facility
On November 18th, the grand opening of paraformaldehyde production facility took place at the production site of "Metafrax Chemicals" JSC in Gubakha.
The event was attended by Armen Garslyan. the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company and Vladimir Daut, the General Director. The staff of the enterprise was welcomed by Dmitry Makhonin, the Governor of the Kama region, who presented state awards to the employees of "Metafrax". The symbolic key for opening the plant was given to Vladimir Daut by Sergey Sedov, the general director of "Altex-Stroy", which acted as the general contractor for the construction of the unit.
The plant was built as part of the "Metafrax Group" investment project to create paraformaldehyde and formalin production facilities. The formalin production unit – the third at the enterprise – has been launched in December of 2021. The project is being implemented as part of the company's Development Program until 2025.
Armen Garslyan noted that the successful completion of the construction was made possible due to the responsible attitude of colleagues and partners to the work and thanked everyone who participated in the implementation of the project.
- Less than a year ago, we all opened a formalin production plant together, and this is becoming a good tradition: today we are opening a paraformaldehyde unit. We have once again confirmed that, despite the external conditions, no matter how difficult they may be, we follow the path of constant development, while overcoming difficulties. The increase in production volumes and the expansion to new product sales markets are ahead of us, - noted the Chairman of the Board of Directors of "Metafrax".
As a result of the project implementation, the internal processing of methanol at the enterprise will increase to 450 thousand tons per year; the product range will expand. Paraformaldehyde is a high–quality substitute for formaldehyde, which has a long shelf and transportation life. It can be used to obtain many derivatives.
A building has been erected at the production site of the paraformaldehyde unit, where the production sector, the finished product warehouse, the central control room with office and utility premises and a transformer substation are located. A water cycle cooling tower with a pumping station, a loading point for rail and road transport and an intra-shop pipe rack were installed, railway tracks and storage areas for containers were arranged. Construction and installation works at the unit are fully completed, commissioning and preparation for putting the unit into operation are ongoing. The developer of the design and working documentation for the paraformaldehyde plant was "Tulagiprokhim" and the general contractor was "Altex-Stroy".
The production capacity of the plant is 30 thousand tons per year. The enterprise aims to produce paraformaldehyde of the highest grade, which is intended for the manufacture of plastics, paints, resins, adhesives and insulation materials. The product is widely used in the production of chipboard and medium density fibreboard as a binder polymer. The same kind is intended for the production of herbicides in agriculture and antiseptics in animal husbandry.