OREANDA-NEWS The only plant in Russia for the production of silicon dioxide from rice husks began to be built in the Seversky district of the Krasnodar Territory, the governor of the region Veniamin Kondratiev told reporters.

"A unique enterprise for the production of amorphous silicon dioxide and activated carbon from rice husks is being created in the Seversky district at the national level. The plant is being built with the state support of the region - we finance up to 30 percent of the costs of its implementation. We have already sent over 45.6 million rubles. This is a necessary project for our region - high-purity silicon is produced from rice husks in an environmentally friendly way. The range of applications of the manufactured material is very wide - from microelectronics, production of building materials, paint and varnish products to the food industry," the press service of the regional administration of the word Kondratiev reports.

According to the authorities, the technology of processing rice husks for the production of silicon dioxide was developed jointly with Lomonosov Moscow State University. The plant's equipment is capable of producing amorphous silicon dioxide with a purity of 99.99 percent. Such a product is not yet available in Russia. The volume of silicon dioxide production with the output to the design capacity will be 540 tons per year. The investor of the project will invest more than 650 million rubles in the construction of the plant.

Kondratiev also noted that more than 30 projects for the creation or development of import-substituting industries worth about 25 billion rubles are currently being implemented and developed in the Kuban. According to him, these are enterprises operating in priority sectors for the region: chemical, light, pharmaceutical industries, as well as radio electronics, mechanical engineering and the timber industry.

In Kuban, unique support measures have been developed for such investors: financing from the regional budget up to 30% of the costs of creating import-substituting industries and a preferential loan under the Import Substitution program of the Regional Industry Development Fund. The Fund provides up to 200 million rubles in installments at 0.1% per annum, the press service adds.