The pilot project to produce needle coke at the Imam Khomeini Shazand Oil Refinery in Arak County, Markazi Province, has registered 85% progress and is expected to be completed in six months, the managing director of the refinery said.
“Two years ago, a contract was signed between the refinery and RIPI, a research and development arm of the Oil Ministry, for the production of needle coke, based on which five units would be constructed within four years,” Majid Rajabi was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news service Shana.
“Needle coke is one of the basic materials used in the steel industry. The automotive industry and home appliance factories can also use the item,” he added.
When the unit becomes operational within four years, 90,000 tons of needle coke required by the domestic industries will be produced from low-sulfur mazut domestically, making Iran self-sufficient in the production of the item.
Iran is currently dependent on needle coke imports, so the project is of great strategic value for Iran, as the US sanctions imposed on the country have troubled its import.
Needle coke is a type of petroleum coke derived from oil refining.
Also called acicular coke, needle coke is a highly crystalline petroleum coke used in the production of electrodes for steel and aluminum industries.
With the production of needle coke, mazut production will become zero and the refinery’s profitability will increase.
Indigenizing Equipment
Rajabi also referred to the efforts of refinery’s experts to indigenize the refinery’s compressor and said, “With the attempts of the Iranian engineers, the equipment that was previously procured at a very high price from abroad, is now produced domestically.”
Over 90% of the mechanical parts of the oil refinery have been indigenized, helping save more than $50 million over the past years, which would be needed to spend on importing them.
So far, over 13,500 items have been designed and manufactured in cooperation with knowledge-based companies via reverse engineering.
Regarding the localization of catalyst used in the refinery, Rajabi said, “We have been importing this product for the past many years. However, the refinery has signed contracts with two local firms to produce the item. We hope that the dependence on imported catalysts will end in the near future.”
Imam Khomeini Shazand Refinery produces five products, including gasoline, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, diesel and mazut, and delivers them to the National Iranian Petroleum Products Distribution Company.
It is now the top producer of low sulfur fuel in the shipping sector, which is supplied to the fleet of the National Iranian Tanker Company and Iran Shipping Company. It is also the top producer of normal hexane and propylene for petrochemical companies.
Known as the most modern and profitable refinery in Iran, it has a capacity of 250,000 barrels per day.
Shazand Oil Refinery became operational in 1993. Its annual output includes 5.2 billion liters of gasoline, 4 billion liters of diesel, 430,000 liters of kerosene, 400 tons of granular sulfur and 500 tons of propylene.
