PJSC Tatneft’s Tatneftegazpererabotka (UTNGP) is adding a new unit as part of an ongoing modernization program at its Minnibayevo gas processing plant (MGPP) in Tatarstan’s Almetyevsk region.
Recently approved for its permit to build, the project includes construction of a normal butane (n-butane) processing unit and associated off-site installations within the boundaries of the existing MGPP complex, Tatneft said.
The new n-butane unit will be equipped with the capacity to process 50,000 tonnes/year of n-butane into solid maleic anhydride, which is used to produce polymers used in the food, textile, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries, according to the operator.
Scheduled for commissioning in 2023, the n-butane unit comes as part of a broader upgrading program at the MGPP complex, which also includes the proposed reconstruction of a cryogenic unit for deep processing of dry stripped gas (DSG).
Alongside enabling deep processing of DSG, the cryogenic unit revamp—due to be completed in December 2023—also will increase the site’s depth of ethane fraction recovery the calorific value of carbon dioxide, as well as reduce the volume of hydrocarbons in nitrogen-containing gas, allowing the complex to reduce the amount of hydrocarbon emissions into the atmosphere by about 42%, Tatneft said.
The MGPP modernization program is part of Tatneft’s renewed focus on its gas processing and petrochemical operations given the current situation in the petroleum market, according to Azat Bikmurzin, director of Tatneft’s petrochemicals business.
