Russia’s petrochemical giant Sibur has signed an agreement with the Skolkovo Foundation to establish an R&D center for the development and application of polyolefins. The new facility will be built at the Skolkovo Innovation Center and construction is scheduled to complete in 2018.

Sibur is planning to develop and test new materials and product solutions at the center, as well as exploring opportunities to boost the efficiency of plastics processing technology. Samples of PP and PE grades will be processed into new final products by pilot manufacturing lines, enabling a deeper study of the polymers’ properties and contribution to the quality of the end product, Sibur said, adding that this will improve materials further and ramp up performance and efficiency of processing companies in general.

 “The center  will facilitate experimental research of both polymer materials and final products, which will speed up the development of innovative grades and enable us to offer customers a whole range of new products,” said Vasily Nomokonov, Sibur’s executive director.

Oleg Dubnov, vice president and head of Skolkovo’s Energy Cluster, expressed his hope that the relationship with Sibur will make the Skolkovo Foundation an even greater center of gravity for projects in the field of petrochemistry and innovative materials, resulting in competitive improvements for the Russian chemical industry.