KFU and Sibur agree to deepen cooperation

Dmitry Pashin, Vice-Rector for Digital Transformation and Innovation, met with a delegation from one of Russia’s largest holding companies.

The parties discussed further joint work on a number of projects to develop and scale up catalysts to achieve the industry’s technological safety goals.

The Catalyst Factory established in 2022 on the basis of Kazan University within the Priority 2030 program has already produced 32 tons of catalysts for SIBUR, including a skeletal butylene isomerization catalyst. This substance is produced using entirely domestic raw materials. Currently, the component is successfully used in the production of synthetic rubbers at NKNK (subsidiary of SIBUR), Europe’s largest petrochemical production facility, located in Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan.

Besides, a number of other projects in heterogeneous catalysis are at different stages of implementation.

During today’s visit, SIBUR’s R&D and Innovation Director Sergey Tutov and other specialists of the company also visited the laboratories for synthesis and testing of heterogeneous catalysts of different types and toured the pilot production shop.

About 80 people work in the laboratories and at the Catalyst Factory – employees of the SIBUR Innovation Research Center and KFU scientists. The facility is equipped with all the necessary equipment to implement the full technological cycle of catalyst production, and the close integration of the enterprise with the university allows to develop and introduce Russian catalytic systems into industrial practice.