Pipe-laying work in Mahshahr Petrochemical Special Economic Zone (Petzone), Khuzestan Province, has been completed, operator of the project said.
“The 100-km branches off from the 5th Iran Gas Trunkline (IGAT-5) and will increase gas supply as feedstock to petrochemical plants in Mahshahr by 100%,” Mohsen Karimi was quoted as saying by the National Petrochemical Company's news agency.
The economic zone currently 15 million cubic meters of gas per day via a 30-inch pipeline.
IGAT is a series of nine large diameter pipelines built to supply gas from refineries in the south (Khuzestan and Bushehr provinces) across the country. IGAT-5 transfers sour gas from the South Pars Gas Field phases 6, 7 and 8 to Khuzestan.
“Engineers handled the pigging operations of pipeline and it is ready to move gas from Dareh Abbas region to petrochemical factories in Mahshahr Petrochemical Special Economic Zone.”
The zone is a key industrial region on the southern flank of the oil province dotted with petrochemical facilities.
Referring to Petzone as Iran’s petrochemical hub, Karimi said of the total annual petrochemical output (60 million tons), one third is produced in the southern region.
Stretching over 3,000 hectares, Petzone is located on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf in Mahshahr. It was built to promote industrial development especially in the up- and downstream sectors by attracting new technologies and creating jobs.
The zone has access to international waters through Bandar Imam Port and is connected to Turkey and the Central Asian countries by railroad.
PDH Units
In related news, the Oil Ministry news agency quoted Behzad Mohammadi, managing director of the National Petrochemical Company, as saying that it has plans to develop the downstream industry, one of which is construction of propylene from propane (known as propane dehydrogenation or PDH units) in two plants in Mahshahr.
In a tour of Petzone, Mohammadi said: “Propylene is one of the important products in the petrochemical industry. Salman Farsi and Hirsa Polymer Sahand plants are the first of their kind that will increase production.”
PDH is used to produce polymer-grade propylene from propane independent of a steam cracker or fluid catalytic cracking unit.
Propylene is the second most important starting product in the petrochemical industry after ethylene. Propane is produced at the Bandar Imam Khomeini Petrochemical Complex and Bid-Boland Gas Treating Plant for use as feedstock for the new PDH plants. At present, about 1 million tons of propylene is produced annually.
Salman Farsi project is underway with foreign technical knowhow and is expected to come on line in the next Persian calendar year (March 2021-2022) to annually produce 450,000 tons of propylene, Mohammadi said.
The plant has a license from Germany’s Uhde GmbH involved in engineering, procurement and operation.
Upon completion, Salman Farsi Plant will provide feedstock to nearby petrochemical complexes, including Rejal, Marun and Navid-Zar Chimi.
Hirsa Polymer Sahand project will produce propylene from propane. It is expected to come online next year with annual production capacity of 150,000 tons. Plans call for implementing five PDH projects in Asalouyeh, Bushehr Province.
