“The work connected with transporting and installing such a large unit must always be thoroughly planned. The actual sulphuric acid upgrade is divided into separate stages, and its completion is scheduled at the turn of 2025 and 2026,” says Piotr Kearney, an authorised executive for Spolana.

The heat exchanger was shipped to the Neratovice plant from Hamburg, Germany, halfway through January as an oversize load. Because of its size, the heat exchanger’s shipment over more than 600 km required special conditions, including specific transport corridors and times, to enable seamless traffic.

The robust installation also has a specific size. It is more than ten metres long and nearly four metres high. Therefore, special cranes were used to mount the heat exchanger to the final location where it will be used to operate the production unit. With a total weight of 62 tonnes, it is the most robust equipment to be implemented at Spolana to upgrade sulphuric acid production. Other installations, including the economiser, furnace, or 40-tonne steam super-heater, was implemented within the next part of the project in March. The investment totalling CZK 1 billion respects the sustainable investment policy that follows the ESG principles.

Sulphuric acid is used in mining and processing some ores and minerals, producing car batteries, and in some surface treatment methods, e.g., etching procedures. It is also used in industrial cleaning and laboratories as an essential laboratory chemical. At Spolana, concentrated sulphuric acid is used to produce caprolactam. This product is an integral part of producing silon, nylon or perlon, and in the subsequent use in the textile and clothing industry. Its elasticity makes it an ideal material in the production of sports clothing and other sporting goods for water sports, winter sports, alpinism, and mountaineering.

SPOLANA s.r.o. is one of the largest chemical manufacturing companies in the Czech Republic. The only manufacturer of PVC and caprolactam also produces ammonium sulphate and sulphuric acid. It currently employs over 700 people. Spolana has been owned by the ORLEN Unipetrol Group since 2016. The ORLEN Unipetrol Group is the largest refining and petrochemical company in the Czech Republic. It focuses on crude oil processing and production, distributing and selling fuels and petrochemical products – mainly plastics and fertilisers. It is one of the major players in the Czech and Central European markets in all these areas. The ORLEN Unipetrol Group includes refineries and production plants in Litvínov and Kralupy nad Vltavou, Paramo in Pardubice, Spolana in Neratovice, and two research centres in Litvínov and Brno. ORLEN Unipetrol also includes the ORLEN network of filling stations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. ORLEN Unipetrol is one of the largest companies in the Czech Republic in terms of turnover. It employs almost 6,000 people. In addition to its business development, ORLEN Unipetrol is proud to be a socially responsible corporation. Therefore, it pays equal attention to initiatives focusing on cultivating and supporting sustainable development, education, local communities, and the environment. In 2005, ORLEN Unipetrol became part of the PKN Orlen Group, the largest oil processor in Central Europe.