Ramping up its polyolefin sheet production, Russian plastics processor Polytar (Salavat, Bashkortostan) – a subsidiary of Gazprom Nefthekim Salavat (Salavat, Bashkortostan / Russia; http://eng.gpns.ru) – has invested in a new production line developed by leading German plastics machinery producer KraussMaffei Berstorff (Hannover; www.berstorff.de). Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. According to KraussMaffei (KM, Munich / Germany; www.kraussmaffei.com), the new system, which includes a KME 150-36 B/V single-screw extruder, will come on stream shortly in Salavat and will initially produce 2.5 metre wide polyolefin sheets with a thickness of up to 40 mm.

In the next production phase, KM said, Polytar customers would be able to process PS, ABS and think sheets of about 0.5-2 mm thickness, which can also be rolled thanks to the possibility to change from stacked sheets to rolls. Capable of being retrofitted with coextruders, the system could in the long term also produce multi-layer sheets using more cost-effective materials or recyclate.

As a Gazprom Nefthekim Salavat group member, Polytar processes the pipe materials produced by its parent company into end products, including film, sheets and geotextiles primarily earmarked for the domestic and regional packaging industry. According to KM, Polytar can process about 7,500 t/y of polymer and plans to raise output in the future.