“Magic” technology for processing industrial waste was mastered in Pavlodar

“Simplicity” per billion

It seems, FEZ “Pavlodar” from an outsiderwhich became this way due to many reasons from the complete lack of infrastructure to weak management, which took place here just a couple of years ago, stands out to the undisputed leaders. And according to several indicators at once.

In fact, each of the ten participants of the Pavlodar FEZ (and this is only the existing ones, not counting the same number of businessmen launching production) is implementing unique projects to one degree or another. Our conversation today will be about Metallogamma LLP, which brought a truly breakthrough technology to the domestic oil and gas sector, comparable almost to “magic”. Although not for specialists, what the Russian investor produces looks “as simple as shelling pears.”

The general director of the company, Dmitry Grebenshchikov, can argue with this, but usually in such cases he agrees: so be it!

What is it really like?

…In fact, this is a very serious investment. Over the three years during which the project has been ongoing, Metallogamma LLP has already invested about a billion tenge in it. Of these, 545 million were spent on basic equipment alone. True, in fairness it is worth noting that half of this amount, namely 277 million tenge, is a grant from the National Agency for Technological Development. Let us remind you that NATR launched grant funding for innovative projects last summer.

There were two types of grants: up to 70 percent of reasonable costs under the license agreement and up to 50 percent of reasonable costs for the acquisition of equipment. The application of Metallogamma LLP was approved within the second direction. The state helped the enterprise purchase advanced and fundamentally new technology for the domestic oil and gas industry, which has not yet been used in Kazakhstan.

And the company’s expenses will not be limited to a billion. For example, this year Metallogamma LLP will begin capital construction of a building for its production. For now, the workshop for the production of aluminosilicate hollow microspheres is located in a temporary pneumatic frame hangar on the territory of the Pavlodar FEZ.

Oil workers are waiting, drillers are waiting

Now, regarding the product itself – an aluminosilicate hollow microsphere, without which it is impossible to drill a single oil well. Drilling operations are its main area of ​​application.

Looking at these 500 micron particles filled with gas inside, it is difficult to believe that they combine two completely opposite qualities – lightness and strength at the same time. And yet, it is so. It is this modifier additive that oil workers use when preparing concrete mixtures for drilling wells.

By the way, even in this one can see a certain amount of “magic”, when a certain amount of this modifier in the composition of the cement mortar provides the cement stone after hardening, along with strength, with a number of specific properties that are not found in ordinary concrete mortar.

The service life of a well directly depends on the quality of the grouting reagents used. And it, in turn, is influenced by the composition of the main raw materials, which leaves much to be desired.

As a matter of fact, it was precisely the not very good raw materials that prompted the founder of Metallogamma LLP to purchase expensive and unique equipment, which allows inexpensive processing from the point of view of obtaining quality number one from what in its original form has very little to do with quality.

“A kind of “magic” on a factory scale,” smiles Dmitry Grebenshchikov.

Orientation – West

Aluminosilicate hollow microsphere is obtained from ash and slag waste, which is formed during the combustion of coal at thermal power plants. Moreover, its amount in the composition of ash and slag, which is distinguished by its polydispersity, is negligible – only 2-3 percent of the total mass. But there is many times more moisture and various impurities!

Dmitry Grebenshchikov says that raw materials come with a moisture content of up to forty percent, and the amount of foreign components, which ideally should not be present, can range from 5 to 15 percent. In percentage terms, the process of cleaning ash and slag looks something like this: two tons of raw materials yield a ton of finished products.

It is not difficult even for a non-specialist to imagine what stages of purification Ekibastuz ash and slag goes through before taking the form of an aluminosilicate hollow microsphere, widely in demand in the Russian and European oil and gas sector, where, of course, they will not buy any products. And the sales market of Metallogamma LLP is 90 percent Russia and the remaining ten are Poland, Germany, Spain…

The absence of Kazakhstan from this list is explained quite simply. Metallogamma LLP has been involved in the microsphere project since 2014, and released its first products last year. Meanwhile, the specifics of the oil and gas industry are such that the relevant companies, as a rule, issue tenders on long-term terms.

“Usually, contractual obligations in this sector last not a year, but three to five years,” says Dmitry Grebenshchikov.

However, this did not stop the Pavlodar manufacturer of aluminosilicate microspheres occupy your niche. And the niche is quite solid, taking a course towards developing the export potential of the region.

Last year, Metallogamma LLP exported about two and a half thousand tons of its products. This year’s plan is four thousand tons of aluminosilicate hollow microsphere. Of these, the company has already supplied 500 tons to its consumers since the beginning of the year.

“Of course, these are just plans, but I think we will fulfill them,” says Dmitry Grebenshchikov.

Will these plans include Kazakh consumers of aluminosilicate microspheres after they run out of existing

contracts?

Raw materials are mine

The question is actually very interesting, since, first of all, it comes down to the raw material component, for which there are more than enough hunters! The aluminosilicate microsphere is not only the smallest part in the ash composition; we have already said that it makes up only two to three percent of its total mass, but it is also the most expensive. It is not surprising that there are a lot of people who want to buy, collect and process it.

– Our main source of raw materials “These are Ekibastuz GRES-1 and GRES-2,” says the general director of Metallogamma LLP, “which, by the way, account for up to 50 percent of all Kazakhstan’s reserves of ash and slag mixture. In addition to us, there are three other companies working at their ash dumps that have entered into contracts for the collection of aluminosilicate microspheres. And how many more unofficial collectors of this raw material are there – from the local population, who are not averse to making extra money by selling ash, to foreign buyers, who are also driven by the thirst for profit! After last year’s scandal surrounding the storage lake Karasor GRES-2, one can only guess about their true number. Therefore, when raising the question of increasing production capacity, we must first answer ourselves: “Will we have that much raw material?” There are considerable difficulties with its purchase today, the solution of which may take several years.

For Metallogamma LLP, the issue of raw materials is also relevant because the company intends to expand the range of its products. True, their final choice has not yet been decided. Dmitry Grebenshchikov admits that there are a number of promising areas that he would like to develop in the territory of the Pavlodar FEZ. But he spoke in detail about only one of them, the one that lies on the surface and is connected to the same aluminosilicate hollow microsphere.

“I have already said that aluminosilicate microsphere is one of the most important components in cement slurry,” the general director of the Pavlodar enterprise supplements his story about the features of oil well drilling technology. – But there are two options for using it.

Our modifier-additive can be purchased by so-called service companies that work directly on drilling rigs and produce the solutions necessary for drilling on site. And there are manufacturers of ready-made cementing systems. In this case, all components of the mixture are combined at the factory and the consumer buys a product that is completely ready for use. Remember the dry construction mixtures used for any repair. The principle is the same here. Today, Kazakhstan imports one hundred percent dry cementing systems from Russia. And it would probably be right not to sell the semi-finished product so that the product would later come to Kazakhstan, but to produce and sell it here. And not only to domestic oil and gas companies, but also to nearby neighbors in Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, other countries and companies operating on the Caspian oil shelf, where there is demand for these products.

Avoid semi-finished products

According to Dmitry Grebenshchikov, today Metallogamma LLP rassmatroars option for yourself organizing a workshop for the production of cement mixtures based on aluminosilicate hollow microspheres. The businessman has already sent corresponding letters to the Ministry of Energy. There seems to be preliminary interest in this type of domestically produced product. But it’s too early to talk about this as a real project.

– Construction and launch of such production – this is quite a serious investment,” my interlocutor again turns to the language of numbers. – According to the most conservative estimates, we are talking about three to four million dollars. And these are only capital costs without the work of a serious team of technologists, who, given the simply terrible situation with specialized specialists in the country, will have to be imported from abroad. We need to understand how much the Kazakh oil and gas sector really needs this, decide on the sales market, and carefully consider the sources of raw materials. Of course, we will not simply enter this water and invest a lot of money with an unclear perspective.

And perhaps the new product will not be based on an aluminosilicate microsphere at all. Dmitry Grebenshchikov admits that he has a lot of ideas in his head related to the processing of technogenic raw materials, of which there are a great many accumulated on our planet.