Iran Petchem Industry on Path to Commercialize Technology
Iran's petrochemical industry has worked out plans and taken steps towards the commercialization of locally developed knowhow through identifying petrochemical licenses needed in Iran and prioritizing them based on the plans of National Petrochemical Company (NPC). These technologies include the knowhow for methanol processing, ammoniac processing, propylene production from methanol, polyethylene as well as catalysts, and wisely used chemical materials.
Domestic producers are playing a more significant role by benefiting from local knowhow and transferring technological savvy into Iran. Research and technology have taken the most fundamental step in industrial and economic development, particularly in the petroleum industry in recent years. Domestic manufacturing is a strategic priority towards sustainable development.
Currently, a chain of researchers and technologists involved in Iran's petrochemical industry follow up on development projects. Support provided by the government and attention paid by the Ministry of Petroleum and senior petrochemical industry managers for the development of knowhow and access to technical knowhow and its domestic development have turned the Petroleum Research and Technology Company (PRTC) into a rival for peers.
Development of dozens of new research and technological products has strengthened the foundations of resilient economy. Furthermore, the valuable achievements made in this sector could strengthen the pillars of Iran's petrochemical industry and drive Iran onto the road towards thorough self-sufficiency. Currently 30 locally developed instances of knowhow are ready to be granted.
Behzad Mohammadi, CEO of NPC, said PRTC has signed lucrative agreements with the petrochemical industry and has moved towards commercialization in the sector of developing technical savvy for catalyst production.
Relying on the diversity of products, Iranian petrochemical companies can serve as a good example for the construction of new petrochemical plants in the future. Such diversity could be instrumental in the market stability of petrochemical companies, he said, adding: "And we plan to switch from diverse feedstock to diverse products."
PRTC has moved towards commercialization in the field of developing technical knowhow to produce catalysts, said Mohammadi.
"Furthermore, valuable measures have been taken in terms of technical knowhow of processes and chemicals, and we hope that we would be able to supply the bulk of industrial needs in the near future with the help of this company and assist the industry," he said.
Mohammad said: "Petrochemical industry specialists have taken great steps in catalyst supply, development of related knowhow, marketing catalyst and conversion to new catalysts and I hope that in upcoming months that would be largely provided to the industry."
"Supplying technical knowhow for the process and catalysts related to GTTP, i.e. converting natural gas to methanol and propylene and then producing polypropylene in three steps constitute a big link in Iran's petrochemical chain, and we support such an atmosphere," he added.
"We seriously support research and we have to firmly take the final step of commercialization. The structural view at PRTC must be commercialization. The outcome may be excellent, but it has yet to prove itself in the industry," said Mohammadi.
Meanwhile, technological changes based on the needs of global community in the petrochemical industry are occurring at a very high speed and very clearly. The high diversity of petrochemical production on one hand and increased expectations from consumers in terms of quality and cost price on the other, have led producers of petrochemical products to look for options to diversify products and constantly improve their products quantitatively and qualitatively.
A brief review of the production of some leading companies and their changes over the past one decade will shed light on this fact.
For instance, Basel, which is a licensor and a leading producer of polyolefin in the world, has diversified its products from 600 to 1,100 grades over five years. Meantime, it has phased out more than 200 grades and instead developed nearly 700 new polyolefin products. Basel is just a case in point; otherwise, all leading producers of petrochemicals in the world follow the same procedure.
Such changes may even occur on a daily basis in the world. In order to diversify petrochemical products permanently and even on a daily basis, it is no longer possible to go through purchasing new licenses and even improving the existing ones.
The only way to outdo rivals in the market and diversify products would be to acquire technical knowhow for supplying new products.