The Hungarian chemical company BorsodChem Rt. has awarded Uhde a contract for a new oxychlorination plant as the first stage in the expansion of its production capacity for vinyl chloride (VCM) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
The new plant with a capacity of 225,000 tonnes a year of ethylene dichloride (EDC) will be built at Kazincbarcika, around 150 kilometres northeast of Budapest. The contract includes the basic and detail engineering, supply of equipment, technical support during the construction and erection phases, training of the operating personnel and assistance during the commissioning phase. Uhde will also supply the oxychlorination reactor, one of the world’s biggest, for this plant.
The plant is scheduled for completion in the 2nd quarter of 2004. As recently as April Uhde celebrated the successful handover of a similar plant as part of a major EDC/VCM complex built by the company for Vintron GmbH in Knapsack near Cologne on a turnkey basis. Uhde will apply the proven Vinnolit technology which the company markets in conjunction with Vinnolit’s subsidiary VinTec. Having built EDC plants with a total annual capacity of 4.5 million tonnes and with a market share of over 50%, Uhde is the market leader in this field. VCM in the form of PVC has a wide range of applications in the manufacture of pipes/tubes, casement sections, cable coatings, bottles and containers.
