To complete the value chain in Jam Petrochemical Complex in the port city of Asalouyeh, Bushehr Province, the first phase of an ABS/rubber production unit has been launched, managing director of Petropars Operation and Management Company, a subsidiary of Petropars Group, said.
“Upon its completion, the unit will produce 200,000 tons of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer [ABS] as well as 60,000 tons of rubber annually,” Amir Shahram Zaman was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news service.
As per the contract signed between POMC and JPC, the former is obliged to undertake the initiative in 18 months on a 15-hectare piece of land in the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone in Asalouyeh, he added.
ABS is a hard, heat-resistant engineering plastic that is widely used in housing appliances, pipe fittings and automotive interior parts.
Stressing the plan’s priority, Zaman noted that the contractor is expected to fully launch the plant by May 2024.
According to JPC’s public relations, setting up new ethylene production units, increasing exports and producing petrochemicals with higher value-added top the company’s agenda.
With the stable supply of gas feedstock to the complex, 2.5 million tons of petrochemicals will be sold to domestic and international markets by the yearend, the company said.
Commenting on the number of active cracking furnaces for ethylene production, the firm said, presently four furnaces are up and running. But if it gets more feedstock, two more furnaces will become operational, which will mark a notable increase in ethylene output.
Efforts are being made to boost JPC’s high-density polyethylene output capacity.
The polymer is used in the production of plastic bottles, corrosion-resistant piping, geomembranes and plastic lumber.
LLDPE Unit
JPC also has set a record in producing a polyethylene grade, HD-52518, at its linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) unit.
Reportedly, the output of polymer has reached 50 tons per hour, which is 8 tons higher than in previous years.
According to the public relations of the company, HD-52518 grade comprises over 60% of the LLDPE unit’s production, which is exported to China, Turkey and neighboring countries while meeting domestic demand.
LLDPE is a linear polyethylene produced at lower temperatures and pressures by copolymerization of ethylene and such higher alpha-olefins as butene, hexene, or octene.
Having entered almost all traditional markets for polyethylene, LLDPE is used for plastic bags and sheets, plastic and stretch wraps, pouches, toys, covers, lids, pipes, buckets and containers, covering of cables, geomembranes and mainly flexible tubing.
HD-52518 is a high density polyethylene grade with narrow molecular weight distribution that is suitable for injection molding applications. It has been designed to give good flow properties, low warpage with good dimensional stability and high gloss.
So far, JPC has indigenized 13 polyethylene grades that were a monopoly of American and Italian firms and are extensively used in manufacturing car bumpers, gasoline tanks, pipes, fibers and packaging material.
JPC is one of the largest producers of chemical and polymeric products in Iran and runs production lines of LLDPE, olefin, high-density polyethylene, butadiene and butene-1.
It also produces high density polyethylene used for manufacturing the so-called PE100 pipes that have higher durability and are used in oil, gas, water and wastewater networks.
POMC, by using its local and expatriate experts who have been working in international oil, gas and petrochemical companies and sub-companies as contractors, offer management and consultative services in oil, gas and petrochemical industries.
Petropars was founded in 1998 to help develop the vast energy resources and is one of the leading contractors of upstream oil and gas projects. It has recently been tasked with the development of the giant South Azadegan Oilfield in Khuzestan Province and Belal Gas Field off the Persian Gulf.
