Marvdasht Petchem Plant on Path to Evolution
Almost fifty years ago Iran's petrochemical industry was born near the southern city of Shiraz. Iran joined the club of petrochemical producers after urea fertilizer was produced at Marvdasht Petchem Plant. Over the past five decades, Iran's petrochemical industry has seen ups and downs until it brought its output to more than 60 million tons in the 1990s and 2000s. This upward trend has been continuing in this industry and new units are being added to this industry every day.
Part of the development plan of Marvdasht Petrochemical Plant was launched in the presence of senior Iranian officials. It was the second jump in Iran's petrochemical industry.
With the startup of the third ammoniac/urea unit at Marvdasht Petrochemical Plant with a capacity of 680,000 tons of ammoniac and 1.075 million tons of granule urea, Iran's ammoniac production capacity has reached 4.5 million tons a year and its urea production capacity stands at 5.5 million tons a year.
Marvdasht Chemical Fertilizer Plant, with an annual production capacity of 100,000 tons, was launched in October 1963 as the first chemical fertilizer plant in Iran. That is to say that Shiraz Petrochemical Plant is the standard-bearer of petrochemical industry in Iran. For more than 50 years, it has spearheaded petrochemical production and provided the ground for petrochemical development.
Now after more than half a century of growth, Iran's installed petrochemical production capacity has reached 61 million tons. Shiraz Petrochemical Plant still enjoys a special position.
Given the useful life of existing units and safety and economic parameters pertaining to production and in the light of potential advantages at Shiraz Petrochemical Plant and also in line with the objective of persistent production and the continued life of this company, National Petrochemical Company moved to establish new ammonia and urea units in 2006.
Shiraz Petrochemical Plant is among facilities that were regularly bombed by Iraqi warplanes during eight years of Iraq-Iran War (1980-1988). But specialists working at this facility fared well in containing accidents.
According to planning, a fourth project is planned to become operational at Shiraz Petrochemical Plant, similar to the third unit (3,250 tons of ammoniac and 2,050 tons of urea). But due to a global jump in prices and the increase in the price of gas, this project has yet to become operational.
The urea price, which was around $530 over the past two years, has now reached $200. Oil prices have sharply fallen from $130 to $40 a barrel. Therefore, the price of products varies in line with changes in oil prices. Therefore, if proper conditions prevail over prices the fourth project will hit the agenda of Shiraz Petrochemical Plant.
Urea serves an important role in the metabolism of nitrogen-containing compounds by animals, and is the main nitrogen-containing substance in the urine of mammals. It is a colorless, odorless solid, highly soluble in water, and practically non-toxic. Dissolved in water, it is neither acidic nor alkaline. The body uses it in many processes, most notably nitrogen excretion. The liver forms it by combining two ammonia molecules (NH3) with a carbon dioxide (CO2) molecule in the urea cycle. Urea is widely used in fertilizers as a source of nitrogen and is an important raw material for the chemical industry.
The urea/ammonia project at Shiraz Petrochemical Plant has been carried out with a total investment of € 550 million plus IRR 4,000 billion. It was designed and installed by Petrochemical Industries Design and Engineering Company (PIDEC) using technology developed by a Swiss and Japanese company.
Iranian engineers handled detailed design, purchase engineering, implementation, pre-commissioning and commissioning of this project.
Marvdasht urea/ammonia project has doubled the production capacity of Shiraz Petrochemical Plant to 7.3 million tons.
Kianoush Kazemi, CEO of Shiraz Petrochemical Joint Stock Company, the Marvdasht plant has created 500 direct and 4,000 to 5,000 indirect job opportunities.
The products from new units at Shiraz Petrochemical Plant will be exported to Europe, South America and Africa. Due to their special properties, these products could be used in areas of higher humidity. That is why countries in the aforesaid continents are sought as potential customers.
Shiraz Petrochemical Plant has already been exporting products to India and some European countries.