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Chloroacid chloride (CAC) is one of the main and necessary products 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. Very recently, engineers working at Arak Petrochemical Company (ARPC), one of the NPC's subsidiaries produced chloroacid chloride by direct chlorination of acid acetic at industrial level, which is considered a breakthrough.
Arak Petrochemical Complex
Numerous studies have so far been conducted worldwide to produce CAC with high purity. One method for producing CAC is direct chlorination of acid acetic. Until sometime back, this method had defied attempts in producing high quality CAC. But Arak Petrochemical Company (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 from ARPC production department launched a study for providing optimum conditions for producing CAC via direct chlorination of acid acetic under plant conditions.
Since ARPC's CAC plant was designed on the basis of MCA chlorination, some changes were inevitable. Ensuing analyses and tests confirmed the quality of CAC after the modifications. Plant's bottlenecks were removed after successful trial production. 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 is patenting its technology.
Iranian engineers working at Arak Petrochemical Company (ARPC) modified the process and the catalytic activities of the company's linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant resulting in a 30% increase in the plant designed capacity.
ARPC produces LLDPE using ethylene polymerization with advanced Zigler catalyst in fluidized bed process. The license of the 60,000-t/y plant belongs to BP Chemical, which also carried out the plant's basic design.
The improvement has led to the following results:
- 40% decrease in the consumption of catalyst compared to plant design
- 30% increase in the plant capacity compared to its name-plate capacity
- Improvement of physical and mechanical properties of the polymer
- Considerable reduction in the consumption of utilities and solvents
- Reduction in the plant down-times caused by changes in feed purity or catalyst activity
ARPC, an NPC subsidiary, is located in the central province of Arak and produces polymers, basic chemicals & hydrocarbons. Its nominal capacity is over one million tons per year. The complex was commissioned in 1993.
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