Iran indigenizes know-how to produce petrochemical catalysts
An Iranian oil industry official says the Islamic Republic has successfully indigenized the technology used to produce various kinds of catalyst used in petrochemical, refining and steel industries.
Amir-Houman Karimi, managing director of Sarv Oil and Gas Industries Development Company was quoted by Iranian media as saying this on Tuesday.
He added that after a contract was signed between his company and Pardis Petrochemical Company for the production of 50,000 liters of primary reformer catalyst to feed the ammonia unit of Pardis Petrochemical Company, total quantity of primary reformer catalyst produced so far has hit 1.2 million liters.
Karimi stated that indigenization of catalyst technology has been achieved through more than two decades of extensive research by Iranian specialists.
“The goal has been achieved through joint efforts of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, Shiraz Petrochemical Company, Razi Petrochemical Company, Pardis Petrochemical Company, Arak refinery, and Kermanshah Polymer Petrochemical Company,” he added.
The official noted that two important petrochemical catalysts were domestically produced last month in cooperation with Razi Petrochemical Company and their performance is 40 percent better than their European counterparts.
“Domestic production of these catalysts will prevent outflow of more than USD 0.5 million of foreign exchange per year from the country,” he added.
Karimi said Iran's oil, petrochemical, and steel industries use about 100 various types of catalysts, most of which has been domestically produced during past years.
Catalysts are substances that facilitate production process in related industries and in their absence, production costs sometimes increase up to 15 times