More than 32 million tons of various petrochemical products were produced in the first half of the current fiscal year in Iran (March 21-Sept. 22), the production control manager of the National Petrochemical Company said.
“Producing 32.8 million tons of different products, Iran’s petrochemical output had an 8% increase compared with the same period of last year,” Seyyed Jalal Mirhashemi was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
Referring to the sales of the products, he said the priority is to meet domestic needs and then export the surplus to global markets.
Mirhashemi said Iran's petrochemical industry plays a key role in the country's economic development, adding that plans are underway to further increase petrochemical output.
“Conditions and infrastructure have been prepared for the leap in Iran's petrochemical production and in addition to launching new projects, the unused capacities of some complexes will be optimized,” he said.
Raw Material for Face Masks
Due to the spread of the coronavirus in the country, the supply of raw materials for grades required by the health sector, including those used to produce facemasks, has been continued by petrochemical complexes with a desirable capacity, Mirhashemi said.
In the past two years, petrochemical companies and chemical manufacturers increased the production of raw materials (polypropylene grades 564S and 565S) used in making protective gear and hospital equipment such as facemasks, along with medical and surgical gowns.
Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, the production of polypropylene granules used in spun-bond fabric such as masks and protection suits has increased.
Spun-bond non-woven fabric is made up of polypropylene, a raw material. It is made by spinning continuous filament fibers onto a moving belt.
As the essential material to make masks, the non-woven fabric is the filtering layer in the middle of the mask to absorb dust, bacteria and pollen.
Non-woven masks generally are not considered wash-durable. They are used in applications that do not require washing since they are considered disposable after one end-use.
The masks allow breathing while reducing the entry of possible infectious particles. Until 2012, the spun-bond polypropylene was imported from the Saudi petrochemical giant Sabic.
In 2010, a project started in Shazand Petrochemical Company, Markazi Province, to indigenize this type of polymer and end imports. Engineers at SPC succeeded in producing the polymer through reverse engineering. Other companies followed and imports were discontinued in 2018.
Fabric masks are recommended to prevent onward transmission in public areas, particularly where distancing is not possible, and in areas of community transmission. Masks may help protect others, because wearers may be infected before symptoms of illness appear.
Wearing facemasks has become obligatory in the country, as they help reduce the risk of contracting Covid-19 by 85%.
Domestic companies produced 200,000 respiratory masks a day prior to the pandemic, which has now increased to 10 million per day. Daily production of N95 masks has also risen from 5,000 to 500,000.
