SIBERIAN CATALYST RESEARCH CENTER WORKS AT WORLD CLASS LEVEL

Herman J. Lovink
Akzo Chemicals International bv
Amersfoort, The Netherlands

The Soviet Union's Novosibirsk catalysis research and development center is one of the largest such facilities in the world. It is in the heart of Siberia on the Ob River some 2,000 miles east of Moscow.

The center's original charter was for fundamental research, but in the past 5 years the scientists there have been looking for practical uses for their findings.

The scientists, to name a few, are Profs. Zamaraev, Parmon, and lone, and Dr. Startsev. They and their staffs are well known in their fields. They serve on the boards of several international journals.

The fact that Soviet institutes are state-owned means that their results go to difficult-to-trace patents and journals. Perestroika means, however, that these results should also be commercially applied in competition with everyone else.

A new group, called "Katalyzator," is trying to commercialize the findings from several institutes, plants, and other laboratories. A whole spectrum of new processes and catalyst improvements in specialty chemicals is now being offered to the Soviet industry as well as to the West.

Young managers, more fluent in English, are pushing new developments towards commercialization. With time, we will see more coming out of this working group. Fig. 1 indicates its objectives.

Modern ways of marketing and the know how to do it are in keen demand in the Soviet Union. Opening up to the world outside is of prime importance for Novosibirsk because Siberia is still far away and rather isolated.

Russia is big and so are the number of institutes and persons engaged in research and development work. Some 2,000 are working at Novosibirsk. Four hundred of them have academic degrees. At present the ratio between fundamental research and applied studies (pilot plant scale) there has been brought down to about 70 fundamental to 30 applied. This ratio in the West is closer to 30:70 or even less.

When estimating the total Soviet catalysis R&D effort, the author believes one can safely double or triple the efforts going on at Novosibirsk. Perestroika has also put in motion the processes of change in this area. New structures of cooperation are emerging among individuals from several institutes, former defense plants, and other ministries (Fig. 1).

WHAT IS NEW

In only 3 days, too little to get a feel of what 2,000 people have achieved in the past 5 years, the author noticed:

Completely new catalyst technologies which reduce emissions of wastewater
Custom-made, highly efficient Ziegler Natta catalysts
Large-scale pentasil zeolite synthesis plus oligomerization technology for associated gas
Active carbon of unusual physical properties and combinations of this with aluminas, e.g., for new carriers of enzymes
A new process for phenol from benzene
New low-temperature, Claus-type processes with new catalysts
New forms and materials in honeycombs and extrusions
Many new syntheses of chemical and petrochemical specialties
Processes under unsteady state conditions that can save energy.

The interest of the West in what is going on at Novosibirsk has been rather limited. Italian, Indian, French, and Japanese visitors, and an occasional American and Dutchman, come here on their own initiative mostly for academic interests and exchanges. But what is generated here could revolutionize many a well-established, off-the-shelf western process.

SOVIET INDUSTRIAL CATALYSTS

Catalysts have long been treated as strategic materials in the Soviet Union and thus have been kept under a veil of secrecy. Practically all are made in the country itself, mostly in the Eastern European parts. A particular example is a chromium alumina dehydrogenation catalyst used in some 40 units and accounting for 3,000 tons/year of catalyst.

Catalysts are only imported for units employing western processing technology. But they are only a small part of the reportedly 160,000 tons/year of catalyst consumed by the industry. An additional 30,000 tons/year of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst and perhaps 1,000-2,000 tons/year of hydroprocessing catalysts will be made in the Soviet Union with, respectively, Japanese and Danish technology in new catalyst manufacturing plants.

Oil conversion capacity is still low in the Soviet Union, but it is growing. Most of it is in FCCs, cokers, and an occasional hydrocracker.

Most FCCs are of Soviet design. The oldest look like Model IIs; the newer ones are "side by sides." They are all now designed by Dr. Khadzhiev's institute in Groznii in the south of the Russian Federation.

The author estimates there are approximately 500,000 b/sd of FCC capacity plus 300,000 b/sd of Thermofor Catalytic Cracking (TCC). At current oil consumption of 78 million b/sd, which is lower than reported by BP, that capacity can process about 10% of the crude or only one third of the vacuum gas oil potentially available.

There are shortages of fuels locally, but not always. That is probably because the ministry is skillfully distributing the pain. Such sectors as aviation, regional gasoline and diesel fuel users, petrochemicals, export commitments, and agriculture in season get fixed amounts. Anyone going over his quota feels the pinch, even Aeroflot, the national airline.

Some shortages could be because of octane restrictions and conversion capacity. But you can still get gasoline if you can come up with 2 Rubles/liter when it is not available at 0.40 Rubles/liter.

The economy has grown considerably over the past 25 years and it is still growing, particularly in the transportation sector.

CATALYST QUALITY

Catalyst quality, the author believes, is surprisingly good. But the manufacturing processes are often very different and less economic than those in the West. One of the reasons could be that the planned economy has great difficulty in providing the hundreds of pieces and components of specialty equipment, such as autoclaves, custom-made batch formulation equipment, special filters, pumps, driers, and tailor-made automation equipment. Much of what is used seems to be made locally, but some components come from the West.

Catalysts to prevent pollution are high on the list of priorities for the research institutes. Water pollution in Russia is a key issue. Look at a Soviet map and you can see why.

There is little industry in the northern and eastern regions. Elsewhere, the big rivers stream past industrial areas and through thousands of miles of country to discharge into the Caspian, the Baltic, and the Black Seas. All are virtually land-locked bodies of water with very delicate ecosystems.

LIFE IN SIBERIA

Although Novosibirsk is isolated in the sense that it is far away from the major cities of Moscow and Leningrad, it is not literally "off the beaten track."

It is situated on the Trans-Siberian railroad, the only railroad running all the way from Moscow to Chabarovsk on the Pacific, with a branch to Peking.

Stalin ordered the location of Novosibirsk because one of his great objectives was to develop Siberia. The Soviet Union's survival in World War 11 is owed largely to the industrial complexes Stalin had built in the Urals at places like Ufa and Krasnodar.

Even today much of the heavy industry is east of Moscow.

Novosibirsk is not a bad place. It has a major university and 1.5 million inhabitants. The quality of life is far from opulent; it is about the same as Moscow, Leningrad, and the other major cities. That is of course better than in minor cities and villages.

Siberia has strong similarities with Canada. Some 70% of its 20 million inhabitants live in a string of six to eight larger cities along its 3,000 mile southern border.

The climate is also similar to Canada's, with long harsh winters and shorter, hot and muggy summers in the lower regions. Life in the "northern territories" is more difficult and lonely.

The population is of Russina descent. Like Canadians, they are friendly, very hospitable, and typical non-city dwellers accustomed to the rigors of northern life. Small wonder that perseverance, dedication to the job, and interest in the work, science, and technology are very high.

The author saw what looked like an avalanche of new processes, catalysts, and ideas in various stages of development.

The staffers at Novosibirsk are fiercely in favor of Gorbachev. As a result, many restaurants serve no alcohol, even with dinner. But economic progress has been limited here in the past few years.

The average Russian does not have much more living and working space than the average Japanese. Life is a struggle for shopping, housing, transportation, and other necessities.

Basic commodities have never been in very stable supply and often are too cheap and wasted. Energy is an example. Many people regulate a room's temperature with the window because there is no better method even in the winter.

Fly from Moscow 2,000 miles east and you will pay either $100 or $10, whichever official exchange you apply to the fare. Sound Ruble management has never been a strong point of socialism here.

FREEDOM

The recent improvements in freedom of speech, expression, and religion have brought forward an enormous array of personal opinions in the press ranging from ultraconservative/ nationalistic to very moderate/advanced radical-a much wider spectrum than is usual in the West.

This makes it more difficult to find out what the mainstream of opinion really is. A single outspoken article or interview in the press can sometimes be really misleading.

The Soviet Union is profoundly different from our western societies. All of its values and societal hierarchy are now being questioned. The "market economy" is still only vaguely understood or even sensed. Science, technology, commerce, and politics are struggling for new relationships.

But the development of commerce should eventually get equal stature.

It is evident in the catalysts research center of Novosibirsk that Gorbachev's line of thinking and his personal style of leadership have enormous appeal to the younger ranks of management. This younger generation of leaders deserves our support in order to help establish a new world order in peace.