Close to 70% of catalysts for key items in Arvand Petrochemical Complex in southern Khuzestan Province is produced by the local firms, managing director of the company said.
“Long-term contracts have been signed with private catalyst manufacturers to determine their products comply with international norms and standards and that the prices are reasonable,” Hassan Neshanzadeh was quoted as saying by the National Petrochemical Company news portal.
Importing some catalysts has become almost impossible due to the new US sanctions and were it not for domestic producers, the Arvand plant would have to pull down its shutters long ago.
Referring to the diversity of products needed for the petrochem sector, he said an estimated 730,000 tons of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, is produced in Iran, of which 50% is manufactured in Arvand.
Moreover, the complex accounts for 90% of the total caustic soda, or (NaOH) output which is used in the manufacture of products that form a daily part of our lives, ranging from food, pulp and paper, detergents and textiles.
“Our production will rise if we have access to more catalysts, equipment, machinery and parts.”
Arvand produces enough chloride to meet its own needs and also provides it to Bandar Imam, Karoun and Ghadir petrochemical companies (all in Khuzestan Province).
SAC500
In related news, NPC quoted the managing director of Petrochemical Research and Technology Company as saying that it has started selling domestic petrochemical companies SAC500 catalyst to augment production of value-added goods.
"The catalyst plays a key role in production of pipe-grade high density polyethylene (PE-100)," Ali Pajouhan said.
Shazand Refinery in the central city of Arak, in Markazi Province, is producing SAC500 on an industrial scale – close to 100 tons per year.
Referring to prices, he said producing a kilo of the catalyst inside the country costs €50 and importing the same costs €400.
He went on to say that the catalyst quality complies with German petrochemical giants Basel standards.
Production of most key chemicals depends on catalysts. Selecting the right material for each product is a sensitive issue because any error in the catalyst can bring the entire petrochemical plant to a halt.
According to the official, SAC500 helps produce PE100 pipes used in oil, gas, water and wastewater networks. PE100 pipes are easy to install, light in weight, flexible, corrosion-free and last for at least half a century.
PE100 has an optimum balance of three key properties, one of which is minimum required strength that provides not only stress crack resistance but also long-term strength as well as rapid crack propagation resistance.
