ARTA Energy Petrochemical Complex in Namin County, Ardabil Province, will start production in 2021.
The plant will annually produce 132,000 tons of methanol and 283,000 tons of formaldehyde among other petrochemical products, the Oil Ministry news agency Shana reported.
A private company, ARTA Industrial Group, in the northwestern province, has so far registered 65% progress and is expected to cost $150 million.
Methanol is a chemical composition that is available in light, volatile, colorless and flammable fluid form. In petrochemical industry, it is provided from the natural gas.
It is used as antifreeze, solvent, fuel, and as a denaturant for ethanol. The chemical is also used to produce biodiesel via transesterification reaction.
Formaldehyde is a naturally occurring organic compound. It is a colorless, strong-smelling gas used in making building materials and many household products. It is used in pressed-wood products, such as particleboard, plywood, and fiberboard; glues and adhesives; permanent-press fabrics; paper product coatings; and certain insulation materials.
To increase methanol output, new projects are underway in Iran to help complete the value chain of the chemical.
According to published reports, up until 2007 methanol was used only as a chemical. But completion of its value chain gained momentum soon after as methanol to olefin and methanol to propylene projects were accelerated and have bigger profit margins.
With the recently launched petrochemical complexes, including Marjan, Kharg, Fanavaran, Kaveh and Zagros, Iran now produces 6.6 million tons of methanol a year of which 400,000 tons is exported.
Six other methanol projects will come on stream by 2020 and add 12 million tons to the total annual output.
Iran accounts for 8% of the world's total methanol production and exports mainly in Iraq, China, the UAE, India and South Korea.
Between March 2017 and early 2018, Iran’s methanol exports generated $1 billion (USD then was worth 35,000 rials).
Availability of relatively cheap feedstock plus demand from Asia has contributed to robust growth of the domestic methanol industry in the past decade.
According to Globe Newswire, the global methanol market was worth $ 24.7 billion in 2018, registering a compound annual growth rate of 7.7% during 2011-2018. According to estimates, the market is expected to reach a CAGR of 11.1% during the forecast period (2019-2024).
