KPC's urea plant beats nameplate capacity

Production at the urea plant of the Khorasan Petrochemical Complex (KPC) outstripped nominal capacity. The plant produced some 550 000 tonne from the beginning of the current Iranian year in 21 March '00 until the end of February '01, up by 11% over the nameplate capacity. It operated smoothly during the period.
Output is expected to reach some 580 000 tonne, up 17% over the nameplate capacity, by 20 March '01 when the current Iranian calendar year comes to a close.
Located in the eastern province of Khorasan, KPC has a capacity of 330 000 tonne/year ammonia and 495 000 tonne/year of urea.

RPC's ammonia and urea plants are revamped

In order to eliminate operational bottlenecks at its ammonia and urea plants, Razi Petrochemical Complex (RPC) launched revamp operations in its No.1 ammonia and urea Plants. The revamp in the ammonia plant No.1 was completed and it came on stream in late February. Ever since, it has operated smoothly and is expected that it would keep producing at nameplate capacity of 1000 tonne per day.
The operations at the urea plant is still in the making and it is expected to come on stream in late March '01. The revamp at the urea plant No. 1 is foreseen to increase the plant's nominal capacity from its current 700 tonne/day to 870 tonne/day, up by 24%. It will also cut down energy and chemicals consumption.
RPC has two ammonia plants each with a capacity of 330 000 tonne/year and two urea plants with a total production capacity of 782 100 tonne/year.

Capacity increases at SPC's ammonia plant

Following a thorough revamp and overhaul of the Shiraz Petrochemical Complex's (SPC) ammonia plant No. 2, production capacity at this facility reached some 113% of its nameplate capacity. During the revamp, modifications were made in the synthesis reactor and secondary reformer resulting in removal of operational bottlenecks. They also led to continuity as well as enhancement of output in terms of both quality and quantity. Meanwhile, modifications were also made at the urea evaporator of the SPC's urea plant No. 1, giving rise to considerable improvement in the plant's waste-waters and environmental performance.
Built in 1964, SPC is NPC's oldest facility. SPC has two ammonia and two urea plants with an overall capacity of 433 000 tonne/year and 543 000 tonne/year respectively.

ARPC receives award for direct production of CAC

NPC subsidiary, Arak Petrochemical Company (ARPC) received the 14th Kharazmi International Scientific Festival award for its innovative method of producing chloroacetyl chloride (CAC) via direct chlorination of acid acetic. ARPC was granted the third-place award of the Festival's applied research section for its invention.
CAC is a basic material for producing some pesticides including alachlor and butachlor. It is also used in pharmaceutical, food and sanitation industries. Many attempts were made to produce high purity CAC at industrial level; the attempts, however, bore little success.
However, R&D engineers working at ARPC succeeded to produce CAC by direct chlorination of acid acetic at industrial level, which is considered a breakthrough.
ARPC in collaboration with Tehran University were able to produce high purity CAC (over 99%) utilizing this method under laboratory condition. Prompted by this initial success, a team of ARPC's researchers launched a study aimed at providing optimum conditions for producing CAC via direct chlorination of acid acetic under plant conditions.
After successful trial production, the plant's bottlenecks were removed. ARPC is now in the process of procuring the required equipment and facilities to continue producing CAC with its own technology. In the meantime, it has patented its technology.
The prestigious Kharazmi International Scientific Festival is held annually to support scientific achievements and applied inventions by Iranian scientists and researchers.