R&D Agreement With Norway Co.

The Petrochemical Research and Technology Company signed a memorandum of understanding with Norway's Norner institute on transferring modern technology to produce higher grades of polypropylene. According to the company's news portal, the MoU calls for providing Iranian petrochem industry with expertise to develop polypropylene production that is reportedly the world's second-most widely produced synthetic plastic after polyethylene. "The MoU was concluded with the aim of improving domestic know-how to manufacture higher grades of polypropylene," Esmail Qanbari, the head of PRTC noted, adding that as petrochemical companies move to manufacture goods with higher value-added, indigenizing the production of polypropylene catalysts will help them thrive and increase their share in global markets. Polypropylene, aka polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. The global market for polypropylene was about 55 million tons in 2013. Norner, a global market leader of industrial R&D services in polymers, is an independent innovation and technology institute. It has leading expertise in handling of materials and polymers for the whole plastics and packaging value chains.