Orgkhim awards Malaysian plant construction

Kuala Lumpur – KNM Process Systems Snd Bhd has been awarded a contract to build Orgkhim’s rubber processing oil plant in Malaysia, KNM announced on 20 May.

Part of Malaysian process equipment maker KNM Group, the company was awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction by Orgkhim’s Malaysian subsidiary Norman Process Oils to build the $43-million (€38 million) treated distillate aromatic extract (TDAE) plant.

The project is expected to take 20 months, said KNM.

Speaking to ERJ earlier this year, head of Orgkhim’s marketing Ilya Zakharov, said he expected the start-up of the plant in the fourth quarter of 2017.

The 50-kilotonnes per annum (ktpa) unit, in Tanjung Langsat Port, Johor, will produce the company’s TDAE (treated distillate aromatic extract), TRAE (treated residual aromatic extract) and S-RAE (safe RAE, “green” analogue of traditional RAE) products.

The Malaysian facility will supply markets in the Asia Pacific region with a particular focus on China as well as other established markets including Malaysia and Singapore.

Asked if these markets would support full uptake from the plant, Zakharov said: “Today, we supply China and Korea and other Asian countries directly from Russia. Our volumes are growing so we will easily move production of these volumes to Malaysia.”

Reduced logistics costs, he added, “will even allow us to be more competitive.”