TASHKENT (Jahon, TCA) — A distinctive project on the construction of a gas-to-liquid (GTL) plant in Uzbekistan’s Kashkadarya region had been pendent for a long time, but it has found a second wind in the last six months, the official Jahon news agency reports. This new modern facility will produce synthetic fuel from gas using the technology provided by the South African Sasol.

The plant is estimated to annually process 3.6 m³ of natural gas and produce about 1.5 mln tons of synthetic fuel that meets Euro-5 requirements. Of these, 743,000 tons will be diesel fuel, 311,000 tons of kerosene for aviation, 431,000 tons of naphtha, and 21,000 tons of liquefied gas.

The total cost of the GTL plant construction project exceeds $3.6 bln. In addition, for the processing of naphtha, the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex will be expanded and modernized at a total cost of over $400 mln.

Synthetic naphtha produced at the new facility will be forwarded to the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex, located at a distance of one kilometre, where it will be used to produce polyethylene and polypropylene.

In particular, it is planned to launch the production of bimodal polyethylene, which allows reducing the use of raw materials by half when obtaining finished products. Its physical characteristics will be higher than that of the polyethylene currently produced in Uzbekistan.