Sabalan Petrochemical Company in Asalouyeh, Bushehr Province, has started using domestic methanol catalyst in the company's synthesis reactors, the managing director of the company said.
“Previously, the catalyst was imported from the Danish company Topsoe,” Reza Karimi added, noting that the company could not import this catalyst due to the US sanctions and “as our approach is to support local manufacturers and knowledge-based companies, the company is now using the item produced for the first time inside the country by Sarv Oil and Gas Company,” he was also quoted as saying by Naftema website.
The US announced fresh economic sanctions on Iran in August 2018 to target key industrial sectors. In the May of that year, the US quit the landmark 2015 nuclear deal Iran had signed with six world powers and in November imposed a second round of sanctions against its key economic sectors.
Karimi noted that with the indigenization of the chemical, the country will no longer need to import methanol catalysts.
Methanol is used to create high-quality chemicals, the most important of which are formaldehyde, acetic acid, MTBE, methyl methacrylate, methyl chloride and methylamines, which are processed to produce other derivatives.
Up until 2007, methanol was used only as a chemical, but the completion of methanol value chain gained momentum after methanol to olefin and methanol to propylene projects were accelerated, which have a bigger profit margin.
Data from the National Petrochemical Company show Iran produces about 13 million tons of methanol per year, accounting for 5% of the world's total methanol production and exports to Iraq, China, the UAE, India and South Korea.
The global methanol market is expected to grow at a significant rate in the coming years, driven mainly by the increasing use of methanol (in the form of fuel and antifreeze agent) in the auto industry. The methanol industry has experienced an explosive growth, primarily in China and the United States, owing to significant developments in shale gas.
Previously, Sabalan has made use of domestically-made hydrodesulphurization (HDS) catalysts, also for the first time in the country.
Hydrodesulphurization is a catalytic chemical process widely used to remove sulfur from natural gas and from refined petroleum products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, diesel and fuel oils. The purpose of removing sulfur from products such as ultra-low-sulfur diesel is to curb sulfur dioxide emissions in vehicles, aircraft, locomotives, ships, gas and power plants, residential and industrial furnaces and other forms of fuel combustion.
Located in South Pars Special Economy Energy Zone, Sabalan plant stretches over seven hectares. A methanol production unit with a capacity of 1.65 million tons a year, it is a subsidiary of Sepehr Energy Holding and Petrofarhang Holding companies.
Sarv Oil and Gas Company is the first producer of high-performance catalysts in Iran.
Founded in 2004, Sarv produces 4,000 tons of different catalysts for petrochemical plants, refineries and steel mills.
The company supplies 70% of catalysts used in Iran's key steel sector.
