TEHRAN - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday ordered the official inauguration of two major petrochemical catalyst production projects worth about $10 million in central Markazi Province via videoconference.

As Shana reported, in a virtual ceremony, Rouhani inaugurated the knowledge-based projects for the production of polypropylene and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) catalysts, which have been implemented for the first time in the country with Iranian technical knowledge.

All the equipment and machinery used in the mentioned catalyst production units have been made inside the country by capable Iranian engineers and experts.

The production capacity of the polypropylene catalyst unit is reported to be 12 tons per year, equivalent to 30 percent of the needs of the country’s petrochemical industry; this unit can be further expanded to fully meet the needs of the country.

The HDPE catalyst unit, which has been implemented with CX technology, also has an annual production capacity of 20 tons, equivalent to 25 percent of the petrochemical industry's needs, this unit can also be expanded to fully meet the country's needs.

Catalysts are critical for the operation of petrochemical process units. The value of catalysts used in Iran’s petrochemical industry is about $270 million per year.

Of the 40 major types of catalysts used in the petrochemical industry, the knowledge for the production of 19 has been indigenized so far, and nine more are scheduled to be indigenized by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2022).

“We plan to produce over $100m worth of petrochemical catalysts annually, by the end of the Iranian calendar year of 1400 (March 20, 2022),” Ali Pajouhan the managing director of Iranian Petrochemical Research and Technology Company (PRTC) has said.

According to the official, the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) has already signed 20 contracts with knowledge-based companies for mass production of catalysts and 70 research projects are also underway in this regard.

Back in January 2020, NPC had held a seminar on the indigenization of petrochemical industry catalysts in Kish Island.

EF/MA