Poliom upgrades the air purification system

A new air filtration system was installed at the Omsk Polypropylene Plant. It traps the polypropylene microparticles and is completely ready for commissioning.

The filtering unit is included in the extrusion section that is the production site, where granules with the desired consumer properties are made of polymer powder.

The filter will clean the working area of the polymer dust, namely the microplastic particles that can be generated during the granulation process and settle in the installation room. The Russian-made equipment has an active filtering surface with an area of 12 m2, capable of capturing solid particles with a size of 0.0005 mm* and purifying the air by more than 96%.

The microplastic particles captured by the filter are suitable for further processing. They will be sold to the manufacturers who will make consumer goods, such as the buckets, basins, garden tools, packaging, garbage bags, etc.

The Poliom plant is constantly introducing new solutions that improve the environmental safety of technological processes. The Omsk enterprise is a member of the PlasticEurope Operation Clean Sweep initiative of the European Association of Polymer Manufacturers, aimed at preventing the ingress of polymer particles into the environment. According to this project, even the smallest plastic particles are collected at all stages and sent for further processing.

Igor Tikhonov, CEO of the Omsk Polypropylene Plant:

“We constantly analyze the enterprise operation, identify opportunities for process improvement and implement the best practices. One of the plant's objectives is to improve the efficiency of raw materials processing and minimize the amount of waste to be disposed of at the landfills. The Clean Sweep initiative and the microplastic localization activities implemented within its framework are a significant step towards this goal. In 2019, thanks to the Clean Sweep, the Omsk Polypropylene Plant prevented 352 tons of polymer particles from entering the environment in the form of granules, powder, shavings, and dust".

*Particles with the size of 0.0005 mm, or 0.5 microns, are 160 times smaller than a human hair in cross-sectional diameter.