Kralupy nad Vltavou, 25. June 2010 – The joint venture of Unipetrol and Synthos Kralupy, Butadien Kralupy a.s., today launched production on its new butadiene unit. The investment worth.
CZK 1.2 billion replaces current production unit operated by Synthos Kralupy. The new unit increases the current production capacity from the original 90 to 120 kt per year, which will put the company among the 10 biggest butadiene producers in Europe.
The new production unit uses the technology obtained from the Japanese company JSR, which is fully compliant with the most strict production safety and environmental care requirements. The main supplier of the construction and facilities is Chemoprojekt. The new technology will ensure more efficient production of very high quality products. It is energy-saving, in comparison with the technology used to-date up to 38 percent of heat will be saved during butadiene production. High level of automation is another advantage. Similar technologies are operating so far only in Japan, India and South Korea.
The decision to construct a new butadiene unit was a part of the contract to sell Kaučuk (today Synthos Kralupy) to the Polish company Firma Chemiczna Dwory S.A. (today Synthos S.A.). On the basis of this contract, a joint venture agreement was signed, creating Butadien Kralupy.
Unipetrol owns 51 percent of the joint venture Butadien Kralupy, Synthos Kralupy owns 49 percent. Butadien Kralupy, the operator of the butadiene unit, will ensure the processing of the C4 fraction from the Unipetrol steam cracker and at the same time will provide raffinate 1, the feedstock of MTBE unit for high-octane gasolines production.
The main consumer of the new unit’s main product, i.e butadiene, will still be Synthos Kralupy, a part of the Synthos Capital Group. Synthos Kralupy is a notable partner of the Unipetrol Group as well as for other products, Unipetrol RPA supplies it with ethylene and benzene.
For the Synthos S.A. Capital Group the investment will ensure better feedstock base stability, which will allow to speed up the key investments improving the Group’s market position. These investments are most of all into extending the Group’s offer and expand the scale of its activities.
UNIPETROL, a.s. is a group of companies operating in the petrochemical industry in the Czech Republic. In 2005 UNIPETROL became a part of the PKN ORLEN Group, the largest oil processor in Central Europe. The UNIPETROL Group is oriented mostly towards oil processing, fuel distribution and petrochemical production. In all of these business areas the UNIPETROL Group is among the key players both in the Czech Republic and on the Central European market. The Group ranks among the leading firms in the Czech Republic in terms of its revenues, and employs more than 4,000 people.
Butadien Kralupy a.s. was created in April 2007 and is a joint venture of UNIPETROL, a.s., (51%) and Synthos Kralupy a.s. (49%). The company is a producer of butadiene and Raffinate 1 from the C4 Fraction.
SYNTHOS Kralupy a.s. is the production plant belonging to the chemical company Synthos S.A. The main areas of its activity are the production of synthetic rubber, styrene (expandable polystyrene and XPS – isolating materials for the building industry, hard polystyrenes).
Contact:
Blanka Růžičková
Spokesperson
UNIPETROL, a. s.
Telephone: +420 225 001 407, +420 731 881 111
E-mail: blanka.ruzickova@unipetrol.cz