Three petrochemical plants costing $1.1 billion were launched in the western provinces on Thursday.
The projects include olefin unit and sulfur recovery unit of Ilam Petrochemical Plant in Ilam Province, potassium sulfate production unit of Urmia Petrochemical Plant in West Azarbaijan Province, and Hegmataneh Petrochemical Plant in Hamedan Province.
The output of these plants together will help increase total petrochemical production from the current 66 million tons per year to 77 mt/y, the Oil Ministry news agency Shana reported.
Almost 70% of the equipment used in the three facilities were manufactured inside the country.
With the opening of seven other plants petrochemical production capacity will reach 100 million tons per annum next year – up 100% compared to 2013.
The olefin and sulfur recovery units of Ilam Petrochemical Plant have a total annual production capacity of 765,000 tons. The SRU facility was built to sweeten olefin feedstock, the plant managing director said.
“Sweetened feedstock will be transferred to the olefin unit to annually produce 458,000 tons of ethylene, 124,000 tons of propylene, 132,000 tons of pyrolysis gasoline and 33,000 tons of liquid fuel,” Hassan Najafi-Semnani said.
Propylene is a colorless fuel gas with a naturally pungent smell. It is a strategic commodity in the petrochemical industries. It can be transformed into value added products like polypropylene and create jobs in the downstream petrochemical sector.
The current propylene output is about 980,000 tons per year. However, demand for this product in the country is much more and plans are underway to increase output. Comprehensive plan calls for increasing propylene production in Iran in the near future.
The potassium sulfate unit of Urmia Petrochem Plant has an annual production capacity of 40,000 tons plus 50,000 tons of hydrochloric acid.
Construction of the unit began in 2018 to complete the value chain and expand downstream industries. Iran is now 9th in the world in potassium sulfate production used in industries such as chemical fertilizers, laboratory material and catalysts.
Hydrochloric acid is also used to process steel, the material of choice for suspension bridges and used in the production of cars and heavy vehicles, batteries and photoflash bulbs.
Urmia petrochemical company is located 30 kilometers southwest of the provincial capital Urmia City. It already has three units for producing sulfuric acid, crystal melamine and ammonia sulphate.
Hegmataneh Petrochemical Plant is the first to produce medical grade granulation powder and PVC with an annual capacity of 45,000 tons. The product is one of the unique petrochemical products in the world and only few countries have the knowhow to produce it. The new plant puts an end to import of such goods.
With the inauguration of Hegmataneh, there are now 57 petrochemical complexes in the country.