Executive operations for the construction of a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant at the Persian Gulf Bidboland Gas Refinery in Khuzestan Province will begin soon, managing director of the refinery said.
“The new project seeks to produce propylene from the propane product of the refining complex with a capacity of 450,000 tons per year,” the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana also quoted Mahmoud Aminnejad as saying.
PDH is a promising catalytic technology utilized for the conversion of propane into propylene, which is involved in many petrochemical applications.
In addition to propylene, the PDH plant produces other byproducts (mainly hydrogen).
As the demand for propylene in the country is much more than the output, plans are underway to increase its production to 4 million tons a year from the current 1 million tons per year in three years.
Propylene is the second most important product in the petrochemical industry after ethylene. It is the raw material for plastic polypropylene, which component is mainly used in the automotive, textile and packaging industries.
The primary source of propylene is from cracking naphtha and other liquids such as gas oil and condensates to produce ethylene. However, propane can also be used to produce propylene.
Propylene is a colorless gas with a naturally pungent smell. Although similar to propane, it has a double bond that gives it a combustion advantage, i.e., it burns hotter but is non-toxic.
The gas can be transformed into value added products like polypropylene and create jobs in the downstream petrochemical sector.
According to Aminnejad, Persian Gulf Bidboland Gas Refinery also plans to complete the polypropylene chain.
Polypropylene – the world's second-most widely produced synthetic plastic, after polyethylene - is used in a variety of applications, including packaging and labeling, textiles, carpets, stationery, plastic parts and reusable containers, laboratory equipment, loudspeakers, automotive parts and polymer banknotes.
HDS Plant
Speaking about the construction of a HDS plant in the refining complex, Aminnejad said, “The plant is being built with an investment of $60 million. It is currently 68% complete and will hopefully become operational in September.”
“The unit will reduce the sulfur amount in the C5+ product of the company from 300 PPM to less than 1 PPM, resulting in a valuable product used in the production of jet fuel,” he added.
Jet fuel is a specialized fuel used to power aircraft. It is generally of a higher quality than what is used in heating or road transport.
Iran produces fuel used in aircraft and helicopters, and exports it to Armenia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Central Asian states and Pakistan.
According to the Aviation Fuel Department of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, about 1,300 aircraft in Iran need 15 million liters of fuel annually.
Pentanes plus, or C5+, is a mixture of hydrocarbons that is a liquid at ambient temperature and pressure, and consists mostly of pentanes (five carbon chain) and higher carbon number hydrocarbons. C5+ is mainly used to indicate the pentanes and heavier content of a gas.
Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) is a catalytic chemical process widely used to remove sulfur compounds from refined petroleum products such as gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and mazut.
According to Aminnejad, a pilot project is underway to desulfurize butane for converting it to jet fuel.
When completed, the facility would annually earn at least $20 million.
Removing sulfur from butane is an environment-friendly practice that will cut greenhouse gases in the region in the long run.
The Bidboland refinery in oil-rich southwestern Khuzestan has a daily capacity of processing 56 million cubic meters of associated petroleum gas from the East and West Karoun oilfields that include several large oilfields straddling the Iran-Iraq border, namely Azadegan, Yaran, Yadavaran and Darkhoein.
The huge complex generates $1.5 billion a year, including $700 million from exports. It has an annual production capacity of 10.4 million tons of methane that will be injected into the gas grid, 1.5 million tons of ethane, 1 million tons of propane, 600,000 tons of gas condensates and 500,000 tons of butane to be fed into petrochemical plants in Mahshahr and Gachsaran.
An estimated 900,000 tons of acid gas produced each year in the plant will be injected into oil wells in the Aghajari fields in Khuzestan to boost crude output and produce 600,000 tons of gas condensates.
