The trial delivery of ethane from the Bidboland Persian Gulf Gas Refinery to Gachsaran Petrochemical Company through a 90-km pipeline started on Saturday, the Oil Ministry’s news service Shana reported.
The construction of Gachsaran Petrochemical Company is almost complete and it will be officially inaugurated in two months. Upon its launch, the company will have an annual production capacity of 1 million tons of ethylene.
The plant will turn the ethane received from Bidboland Refinery to ethylene, which will be sent to Mamasani, Kazeroun and Boroujen petrochemical companies as well as Dehdasht and Gachsaran polymer plants.
Sour gas is transferred to Bidboland Refinery and after sweetening and separation, 1.250 million tons of ethane are sent to Gachsaran Petrochemical Company.
Gachsaran Petrochemical Company will play an important link in the value chain to turn associated petroleum gases to polymer products. Its construction has cost about $1.3 billion.
One of the advantages of the project is that about 80% of the parts and equipment used in the plant are made by domestic manufacturers.
Ethylene is a colorless gas produced on an industrial level using the steam-cracking process of ethane and naphtha. It is flammable in nature and commonly used as feedstock by chemical manufacturers to produce polyethylene, ethylene oxide, ethylene dichloride and ethylene benzene.
The gas is also used for the ripening of fruits on a bulk level. Additionally, in petrochemical industries, ethylene is used as a refrigerant and a fuel gas in welding and cutting processes.
The global ethylene market reached approximately 150 million tons in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.09% and reach about 260 million until 2035.
The primary driver of the global ethylene market is the synthesis of polyethylene. In 2021, approximately 54% of global ethylene was utilized by the polyethylene industry. Various industries employ polyethylene due to its flexibility, durability, lightweight nature and resistance to moisture.
PDH Plant at Bidboland
The Bidboland Refinery in oil-rich southern Khuzestan Province has a daily processing capacity of 56 million cubic meters of associated gas from the East and West Karoun oilfields that include several large oilfields straddling the Iran-Iraq border, namely Azadegan, Yaran, Yadavaran and Darkhovein.
The Bidboland facility has an annual production capacity of 10.4 million tons of methane, which is injected into the gas grid, and 1.5 million tons of ethane, 1 million tons of propane, 600,000 tons of gas condensates and 500,000 tons of butane that are fed into the petrochemical plants of Mahshahr and Gachsaran.
The construction of a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant at the refinery is underway to produce propylene from propane supplied by the refining complex with a capacity of 450,000 tons per year.
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 help create jobs in the downstream petrochemical sector.
