Domestically-made catalysts have substantially reduced production costs at Shazand Oil Refinery in Arak County, Markazi Province, over the last 10 months, the managing director of the refinery said.
“Iranian catalysts have helped the facility reduce the cost of producing petroleum products, including gasoline by at least $34 million over the period,” Majid Rajabi was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
The more locally-made catalysts are supplied to the refining complex, the more inexpensive oil derivatives can be produced, he added, noting that domestic catalysts ensure sustainable production and help remove hurdles to production.
Importing catalysts from abroad under the US sanctions is a tough challenge at times.
Commenting on the quality of Iranian catalysts, he noted that “they are of high quality and can compete with foreign brands”.
“Although the refinery still has to use some foreign catalysts, plans are underway to replace them with Iranian products,” he added.
According to the official, the complex produces 16 million liters of gasoline compliant with Euro-4 emission standards with Iranian catalysts on a daily basis.
The production of Euro-5 gasoline is also on the agenda.
Referring to the efforts of refinery’s experts to indigenize the refinery’s compressor, Rajabi said, “With the attempts of the Iranian engineers, the equipment previously procured at a very high price from abroad is now produced domestically.”
Over 90% of the mechanical parts of the oil refinery have been indigenized, helping save more than $50 million over the past years, which would be needed to spend on importing them.
Reverse Engineering
Over 13,500 items have been designed and manufactured in cooperation with knowledge-based companies via reverse engineering.
Regarding the localization of catalysts, Rajabi said the refinery has signed contracts with two local firms to produce catalysts and hopefully, the dependence on imported catalysts will end soon.
Shazand Refinery produces gasoline, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, diesel and mazut, and delivers them to the National Iranian Petroleum Products Distribution Company.
Known as the most modern and profitable refinery in Iran, it has a capacity of 250,000 barrels per day.
Shazand Oil Refinery became operational in 1993. Its annual output includes 5.2 billion liters of gasoline, 4 billion liters of diesel, 430,000 liters of kerosene, 400 tons of granular sulfur and 500 tons of propylene.
According to Majid Daftari, managing director of Petrochemical Research and Technology Company, in terms of weight, 98% of the catalysts used in the oil industry are produced by Iranian manufacturers.
Pointing out that 99 catalysts, activators and adsorbents are used in the oil industry, Majid Daftari said 85 of these items are being produced by local companies and the remaining 14 either have a very small amount of consumption in the country or their production is not economically justifiable.
About 37,000 tons of catalysts are used annually in Iran’s oil industry and considering the rising demand, PRTC provides all its facilities for knowledge-based companies and researchers to help increase the output of these strategic items.
Indigenized Catalysts
Domestic catalyst producers and knowledge-based firms have indigenized several catalysts used in the refining, petrochemical and gas sectors for hydrogen processing, hydrocracking, dry reforming of methane, isocyanates production, sulfur recycling and removing impurities like mercaptan, sulfur and other environmentally-unfriendly materials from gas condensates.
A catalyst is a substance that speeds up chemical reaction but is not consumed by it. Most solid catalysts are metals or oxides, sulfides and halides of metallic elements and semi-metallic elements such as boron, aluminum and silicon.
PRTC is the mainstay for research and production of technology in all petrochemical fields. It creates tech security and contributes to economic growth by exporting knowhow.
Catalyst consumption is rising and local companies are improving their R&D not to fall behind foreign competitors.
The indigenization of all catalysts will help save about $1.15 billion annually, which would otherwise be spent on importing them.
The use of indigenized technical knowhow, especially in the field of catalysts, reduces the cost of petrochemical production by 30%.
The National Petrochemical Company's short- and long-term goals to raise output cannot be attained unless value chain completion in the lucrative sector is accelerated with the help of local catalysts.
In addition to being used domestically, “indigenized catalysts are exported to countries like Russia and successfully used in their complexes,” Daftari said.
