Faravaresh Company, an affiliate of Bandar Imam Petrochemical Company, increased its benzene production in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2021) by 62% compared to the previous year.
The company used to produce 230,000 tons of benzene per annum. However, by injecting dipropylene glycol into the aromatics unit, the annual production exceeded 372,000 tons last year, the National Petrochemical Company’s news website Nipna reported.
Benzene is a chemical used in the production of detergents and some types of lubricants, rubbers, dyes, drugs and pesticides. Some industries use it to make other chemicals used to make plastics, resins, nylon and synthetic fibers.
Faravaresh is the main supplier of feedstock for other subsidiaries of BIPC, including Ab Niroo, Basparan, Kharazmi and Kimia.
The company includes units for the separation of aromatics, olefins and paraxylene and its products are benzene, ethane, propane, butane, hexane, heptane, pentane plus, ethylene, propylene and mazut.
Benzene is a final product at the aromatics unit that is designed for the production of ploycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which consists of the feed’s purification of hydrogen, catalytic conversion, separation by solvent and alkylation-hydride.
After refining in the hydrogen and desulfurization section, oil enters the catalytic conversion section and the conversion reactions to aromatics take place. In the separation section, the cyclic compounds are separated by a solvent and then separated into ultimate products.
In the hydro-dealkalization section, toluene and heavy aromatics are converted to benzene.
Bandar Imam Petrochemical Company in Khuzestan Province is one of the largest industrial companies of Iran. It is based in the southern city of Bandar Imam Khomeini in Mahshahr County. Built in 1973, it produces chemicals, aromatics, polymers and LPG.
Ethane Recovery Unit
An ethane recovery unit is also under construction at BIPC.
Ethane is a valuable hydrocarbon component that can be recovered as a liquid from natural gas streams. Typically, when the price of ethane is high, processors recover ethane as part of the NGL stream, where it is then fractionated and sold as a feedstock to the petrochemical industry to make ethylene.
NGL, or natural gas liquids, are components of natural gas that are separated from the gas in the form of liquids. Natural gas liquids are valuable as separate products. Ethane, propane, butane, isobutane and pentane are all NGLs used for a variety of purposes like inputs for petrochemical plants, burned for space heating and cooking, and blended into vehicle fuel.
NGL plants are designed to process gaseous hydrocarbons, including ethane, propane, butane and pentanes, and even higher molecular weight hydrocarbons. When processed and purified into finished byproducts, these are collectively referred to as natural gas liquids or NGL.
To help boost annual NGL feedstock supply by 14 million tons, five projects costing $7.5 billion are in different stages of construction and will come on stream in 2022.
These initiatives are chiefly aimed at collecting and utilizing natural gas flared in the southern oil and gas fields.
The Parsian Sepehr Refinery, with two plants in Fars and Bushehr provinces, and three natural gas liquid projects, namely Dehloran Gas Refinery in Ilam Province, Kharg NGL Plant on Kharg Island off the Persian Gulf and the NGL 3200 project in Khuzestan Province, are being completed.
