In the spring of 2011 Uhde Inventa-Fischer and Alco-Naphtha JSC started up the first state-of-the-art, energy-efficient MTR® plant for the production of high-quality PET to be built on European soil. The production plant is located at Alco-Naphtha JSC’s site in Kaliningrad, and with an annual capacity of 240,000 tonnes, it is the biggest single-train PET plant in Europe. Uhde Inventa-Fischer's MTR® technology enables Alco-Naphtha to produce a high-quality PET resin, which has found wide acceptance in the start-up company’s target markets.
Uhde Inventa-Fischer’s scope of supplies included the permit engineering, the basic and detail engineering, supply of all equipment for the plant and supervision of the erection during construction, installation and commissioning. In addition, the operating personnel were also trained by experienced Uhde Inventa-Fischer specialists.
Particularly noteworthy was the successful cooperation between Uhde Inventa-Fischer and its Russian sister company OOO Uhde of Dzerzhinsk. Under the contract between Uhde Inventa-Fischer and Alco-Naphtha, OOO Uhde provided key local services, such as the local OSBL engineering and permit engineering with strict regard for the statutory regulations.
The MTR® process used at the plant replaces the cost-intensive solid-state post condensation (SSP) process, thus achieving a significant reduction in energy and maintenance costs combined with low investment costs. At the same time, feedstock consumption is considerably reduced without affecting the high product quality. The MTR® process is based on the 2-reactor high-viscosity technology developed by Uhde Inventa-Fischer and applies the patented ESPREE® and DISCAGE® reactors to ensure production of the required high melt viscosity on a sustained basis.
Photo: Uhde Inventa-Fischer
PET MTR® plant at Alco-Naphtha JSC in Kaliningrad, Russia
