TEHRAN- In a ceremony on Saturday, Iranian Vice-President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari launched the project for the construction of a catalyst production unit in a polymer production complex in western Kermanshah province, IRNA reported.

To be constructed in Kermanshah Polymer Company, the mentioned unit will start production of BZN2 catalyst in the next Iranian calendar year (March 2021-March 2022), Ali Rostam-Abadi, the managing director of the company, announced on the sidelines of the ceremony, and said the unit is projected to have an annual production capacity of 50 tons of catalyst.

Addressing the ceremony, Sattari underlined that Iran’s petrochemical industry is experiencing a growing trend.

Strengthening domestic production and indigenizing the knowledge and technology for production of the products and equipment that Iran imports from other countries has become one of the major programs that the country is pursuing in recent years.

To materialize this objective, knowledge-based companies have played a noticeable part, especially in indigenizing the products and equipment applied in the oil industry, which is the major sector in the country’s national economy.

Cooperating with capable domestic knowledge-based companies and startups is one of the very fruitful steps that the oil ministry has taken in its efforts to reach complete independence from the foreign resources for meeting its equipment needs.

To materialize the goal of indigenizing the production of the oil industry’s equipment, the country’s Petrochemical Research and Technology Company (PRTC) has also played a very significant role in collaborating with the knowledge-based companies for working on innovative research projects for producing various equipment and base-products needed in the industry.

PRTC’s Managing Director Ali Pajouhan has announced that the National Petrochemical Company (NPC), in collaboration with domestic companies, is planning to indigenize the knowledge for producing nine major catalysts used in the petrochemical industries within the next two years.

However, catalysts are very expensive substances and currently, the country is spending millions of dollars every year on importing such products into the country, producing such catalysts inside the country would make a huge difference in the profitability rate of the petrochemical plants.

Iranian petrochemical industry is currently using 40 different types of catalysts which cost the industry $260 million annually. 

“Currently, the knowledge for producing 16 of the mentioned 40 types has been indigenized which would save the country $105 million every year.” Ali Pajouhan said, adding that “We plan to produce over $100m worth of petrochemical catalysts annually, by the end of the Iranian calendar year of 1400 (March 20, 2022).”

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Photo: Iranian Vice-President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari cuts the ribbon on launching a project for the construction of a catalyst production unit in the west of the country on Saturday.