Ru En

Acron Opens New Methanol Warehouse

Facility will improve shipping logistics and operations ecology and change the system for methanol storage monitoring and safety

Acron has obtained a certificate of compliance for its new methanol warehouse from the North-Western Department of the Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Supervision. The certificate indicates that the warehouse meets all technical regulations, design documentation and energy efficiency requirements.

The new above-ground 1,624.9 m2 warehouse consists of five storage tanks, each with capacity of 1,000 m3, for crude methanol and various types of rectified spirit, and four 100 m3 waste containers. The waste is treated at a facility that removes nitrogen from effluents (absorption by microorganisms).

The new warehouse is equipped with a three-point rack for railway tanks and a motor vehicle loading rack, which considerably streamlines shipping logistics. Most of the warehouse equipment was sourced domestically.

Oleg Alekperov, head of Acron’s methanol unit: “As the Year of the Environment commences, we would like to emphasise the environmental component of the warehouse project. The mounted degassing unit removes dissolved gases from methanol after the synthesis process. This is a crucial green advance, since the old warehouse did not have this technology. The system for methanol storage monitoring and safety was changed dramatically. The tank farm is surrounded by a concrete band that will prevent methanol from leaking into the ground, even if a tank is breached.”

Methanol is an input for many industrial synthesis processes. It is mainly used to produce formaldehyde, which in turn is used to produce formaldehyde resins, plastic materials and synthetic fibres. Methanol is also used to produce a high-octane fuel additive, protein, agricultural chemicals, acetous acid, photographic film and plexiglass. Acron’s methanol capacity totals 100 ktpa.