INRTU Expands Cooperation with Russian and Chinese Timber Processing Companies
As part of its strategic project «Chemical Design Platform for Modular Production Facilities» under the «Priority-2030» program, INRTU will develop technologies for converting pulp and paper industry waste into high-value chemical products. The project will focus on creating new chemical compounds and developing innovative solutions for forest chemical production. Aleksandr Govorin, Head of the Chemical Technologies and Fine Organic Synthesis Laboratory and CEO of Irkutsk Oil and Gas JSC provided the information.
In his presentation, Aleksandr Govorin emphasized that INRTU aims to expand into promising segments of the chemical products market.
“INRTU is a major center for research, digitalization, and reverse engineering. Through this strategic project, we aim to develop technologies for the small- and medium-scale chemical industry and speed up the commercialization of new products through chemical platform approach, including the creation of modular mini-plants equipped with remote-control system. This primarily concerns our flagship area of research focused on processing by-products of the forest chemical industry such as tall oil, lignin, cellulose, and wood chips. Despite the vast availability of these resources in Russia, only a limited share is currently utilized, while they offer significant potential for producing high-value chemicals needed by industry”.
According to Aleksandr Govorin, in the process of analyzing market needs, INRTU specialists conducted interviews with representatives of the forest chemical industry. Several companies in the sector across Russia are interested in cooperation with INRTU.
“In the roadmap, we identified one of the key areas as the search for the most efficient and cost-effective methods of extracting high-value products from crude tall oil (CTO) produced at one of the mills. Our partners are ready to provide samples of different oil grades for research purposes. Our task is to carry out vacuum distillation (rectification), analyze the composition of the obtained fraction, and assess product quality. One of the enterprises has also requested a technical audit of wood processing operations, from the pulping stage to the rectification of crude tall oil. The expected outcome is a twofold increase in CTO yield up to the maximum possible level”.
International market access is expected to be facilitated through cooperation with Songchuan Technology (China). Together with their international partners, INRTU researchers plan to utilize tall oil fatty acids and their derivatives in organic synthesis, enabling the production of compounds used in oil and gas industry as well as in cosmetics manufacturing.
