Vega Refinery Ploieşti invests about $7 million in the construction of the first road polymerized bitumen installation in Romania, a product more resistant and feasible compared to the current solutions used for the asphalt production.
Built to a 30 percent degree, the project is based on German road bitumen polymer modified technology and is to become operational in 2007.
By this process, the road bitumen’s resistance to temperature changes is very high. At the same time, the asphalt produced has a longer running life, is more resistant to deterioration and reduces the traffic noise.
“The road modified bitumen production is for the domestic market. Taking into consideration the highway construction and infrastructure rehabilitation programmes, the demand for such high quality materials shall be very high within the next 15-20 years. The installation’s capacity will allow us to cover 50 percent from the current national consumption registered for this type of bitumen, which is at the moment covered only by imports”, declared Marcel Pavel, Vega Refinery’s director general.
The investment shall be finalized by own funds, and the equipments needed for the completion of the installation are supplied by companies such as IKA Germany, Emerson Process Management USA, Heatech USA, Verder Germany, Chemet Wood Germany and Ferroli Italy.
Vega Refinery is specialized on special products, such as solvents and ecological heating fuels. Member of the Rompetrol Group, the refinery in Ploiesti is the only n-Hexane producer in Eastern Europe, used in the production of polypropylene and the extraction of vegetal oils in the food industry. The refinery reported gross revenues of $100.4 million in 2005.