Production of MTBE, a gasoline additive to raise the octane number, has increased in Iran's petrochemical industries.
Two companies in Mahshahr, Khuzestan Province, are major producers of MTBE. Kimia Bandar Imam Petrochemical Company, with annual production of half a million tons, and Shimibaft Petrochemical Company, producing 150,000 tons per annum, are the two main MTBE producers, Association of Petrochemical Employers' Union reported.
With the launch of the first two phases of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province, earlier this year, total domestic gasoline production has reached 78 million liters per day. With more gasoline produced domestically, production of octane booster has also increased substantially.
Due to technical reasons, production in the MTBE unit of Kimia Company was not even close to its installed capacity. However, after purchasing modern equipment and acquiring technical know-how, it has been able to produce over 1,500 tons on a daily basis since June.
Similarly, Shimibaft has increased MTBE production in the first half of the Iranian fiscal reach full capacity.
It has produced 84,000 tons so far, 14,000 tons more than the volume last year in the same period.
According to Seyyed Mohsen Shams, managing director of Shimibaft, the company plans to boost MTBE production by 14,000 tons this year (ending in March 2019) and manufacture 164,000 tons of octane booster to end imports of the product.
MTBE is used as oxygenate to make gasoline burn cleaner and reduce tailpipe air emissions.
Regular gasoline in Iran has an octane number of 92 and the number for the premium quality is 95.
