Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 2
By Huseyn Hasanov– Trend:
In the near future, Turkmenistan may become the biggest producer of synthetic rubber, raw materials for which consist of natural gas and products of its processing - ethylene, propylene, butylene and benzene, Annamurat Ashirov, head of the gas processing department of the scientific and research institute at the Turkmengas State Concern, said in an interview with the newspaper "Neutral Turkmenistan," Trend reports.
He said that Turkmenistan has all the necessary resources for the manufacture of this chemical product, which successfully displaces natural rubber from the field of rubber products.
The global production and consumption of synthetic rubber reaches about 15 million tons per year.
A polymer plant in the Kiyanly settlement has been recently commissioned in Turkmenistan, where it is possible to organize the production of ethylene-propylene rubber by copolymerization of ethylene and propylene - a valuable material for the production of a wide range of rubber products.
No less important in this aspect is an enterprise for the production of gasoline from natural gas, which is under construction in the Ahal region, and liquefied butane gas, the annual volume of which will be 100,000 tons, will be a by-product at this plant. Accordingly, it will be possible to organize the industrial production of butyl rubber. This material is used for the manufacture of chambers of pneumatic tires and tubeless automobile tires.
A plant for processing 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year at the Bagaja deposit in Lebap region is also under development. There are plans to establish production of 35,000 tons of styrene-butadiene rubber, 5,000 tons of polybutadiene rubber and 25,000 tons of polystyrene per year. These materials are widely used in the manufacture of automobile tires and general rubber products.
"Undoubtedly, it is economically profitable to organize the production of three types of materials at once at one plant (styrene butadiene and polybutadiene rubber, as well as polystyrene) that complement each other and expand the range of end products," the report said. "Moreover, the raw material will consist of not only natural gas, but benzene, which is a by-product obtained during the processing of oil."
The implementation of these innovative projects may turn Turkmenistan into the biggest exporter of rubber, and this will have a great economic effect and requires significant investments in partnership with international companies, Ashirov said.