Iran is in talks with the French company Air Liquide on cooperating in building a 500,000-ton propylene unit, the managing director of Petrochemical Research and Technology Company said on Monday.
“Negotiations with Air Liquide have been over establishing scientific collaboration in producing propylene from methanol in the unit,” Esmaeil Qanbari was quoted as saying by Shana.
Air Liquide is a French multinational company that supplies industrial gases and services to various industries, including medical, chemical and electronic manufacturers. Founded in 1902, it is the world's second largest supplier—after the Linde Group—of industrial gases by revenues and has operations in over 80 countries.
Qanbari added that the company has also held negotiations with companies from Germany, Norway and Japan on purchasing petrochemical knowhow.
He announced that the company has set up a trial methane-to-propylene unit in the port city of Mahshahr in Khuzestan Province, which has the production capacity of 320 tons of propylene per year.
“Such a capacity in the trial stage of producing propylene from methanol is globally unique and the unit will produce 120,000 tons of propylene upon its completion,” he said.
The official noted that the knowhow of building such units has been indigenized and Iran can provide potential investors with the technology. According to Qanbari, the country currently produces 4-5 million tons of methanol, which is expected to reach 18-20 million tons in five years.
