Oil Ministry to Indigenize Catalysts for Petchem Industry: Official

Iranian Oil Ministry is planning to indigenize nine essential catalysts used in the petrochemical industry within the next two years, said managing director of the Petrochemical Research and Technology Company (PRTC). “We plan to produce over US$100 million worth of petrochemical catalysts annually, by the end of the year to March 20, 2022,” Ali Pajouhan said, reported Shana.
According to the official, the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) has already signed 20 contracts with new technology-based firms (NTBFs) for mass production of catalysts and 70 research projects are also underway in this regard.

Noting that the country’s petrochemical industry is currently using 40 different types of catalysts which cost the industry US$260 million annually, the official added, “Currently, the technology for producing 16 of the mentioned 40 types has been indigenized which would save the country US$105 million every year.” In early January, NPC held a seminar on the indigenization of petrochemical industry catalysts on Kish Island.

According to the seminar’s executive secretary, Mohammad-Amin Ebrahimi, the seminar was aimed at creating synergy between catalyst producers and consumers and providing a platform to discuss and evaluate the performance of the homemade catalysts. In September 2019, Pajouhan said the country’s petrochemical complexes were keen on utilizing domestic catalysts in their operations. The official noted that significant steps were taken for the domestic production of catalysts used in petrochemical processes in Iran. Petrochemical is Iran’s most important industry after oil and gas. The National Petrochemical Company hopes to lift output capacity to 120 million tons per annum by 2022. The petrochemical industry has played a key role in domestic economic growth as it creates value-added and reduces the sale of oil and gas on which the economy has been dependent for decades. - Iran Daily