NPC subsidiary Amir Kabir Petrochemical Company has successfully commissioned its 140,000-t/y high-density polyethylene (hdPE) plant. Precommissioning activities started in October 2002. In 22 February 2003, the plant started test production and has produced over 3,500 tonnes of hdPE. The plant's output has already found its way to the domestic market. The unit is the first facility in Amir Kabir's olefin complex to start up. The 520,000 t/y cracker plant is the next unit to start up later in 2003.



Situated in the Petrochemical Special Economic Zone, the facility is slated to produce 160,000 t/y of polypropylene (PP), 300,000 t/y of linear low-density polyethylene (lldPE), 20,000 t/y of butene-1, 158,000 t/y of propylene (PP), 137,000 t/y of pyrolysis gasoline, 51,000 t/y of butadiene and 24,000 t/y of fuel oil.
The planned ethylene plant and other derivatives will start up in stages. The PP plant has been sold to local private company Navid Zar Chimie.
Its required feedstock include ethane, butane, LPG, raffinate, C5 cut, light ends and butene-1. They will be supplied by the nearby Bandar imam and Buali Sina facilities. When fully operational, Amir Kabir will be run a manpower of 577.





NPC's melamine crystal plant is expected to start up in mid August 2003. The project is overall 91% complete. Design and basic engineering of the project has been completed. Detailed engineering is 99.6% complete while 81% of the construction work is finished. Costing $56million and Rials 134,077mn, the project is sited in an area of 1.4 hectares within the battery limit of Khorasan Petrochemical Complex (KHPC) which will provide the required 12,240 tonne/year ammonia and 70,000 tonne/year urea feedstock. Utilities and offsite services will also be provided by the same complex. They include natural gas (42,000 G. Cal.), power (12 million KWH), 40kg/cm2, steam (282,000) and cooling water (24million c.m.).
Italian contractor Eurotecnica and local firm Nargan are engineering and procurement contractors for the project. The 20,000-t/y plant is based on the Eurotecnica technology.
Half of the output from the project has been earmarked for export while the balance will be consumed by local downstream industries.



Implementation work is making headway in Karoon Petrochemical Co.'s isocyanates project which is being developed in Petrochemical Special Economic Zone south-west of Iran. The project was 30% complete by April 2003.
The project consists of four main process units and will be constructed in two phases. The first phase entails a 40,000-t/y toluene di-isocyanate (TDI) unit while the second phase is made up of a 30,000-t/y aniline (AN) unit, a 40,000-t/y methyl di-phenyl di-isocyanate (MDI) unit, and a 56,000-t/y nitric acid unit. The first phase (TDI plant) is slated to start up in March 2004. The second phase units are expected to be commissioned in mid 2005.



Karoon Board of Directors from left: L.Wilnier (Chematur), A.Sedghi(NPC), T.Noorian(NPC), KH.Alambeigi(Hansa Chemie), L.Anzuk

Karoon is 30% owned by Chematur, 30% by Hansa Chimie of Germany and 40% by NPC. Chematur Engineering, the licensor for the project, handles engineering work and procures equipment required by its proprietary technology.



Local firms Oxin Sanat and Mehvar Sazan are contractors for main civil and construction work. Most of the process related tanks and vessels are being supplied by Sadid-Jahan Sanat of Iran. Feedstock will be sourced from NPC's subsidiaries, except for formaldehyde which will be imported.





A 35,000 t/y acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and a 17,000 t/y butadiene 1 and 3 (BD) plant which are being built as part of the NPC's subsidiary Tabriz Petrochemical Complex are reaching precommissioning stage. The ABS project is mechanically 97.5% complete. The BD plant is mechanically 97% complete.
Pre-commissioning work on the ABS plant has been completed and the plant is currently at the commissioning phase, which is expected to complete on 10 May 2003. Commercial production is due in June 2003.
The commissioning work is progressing in the BD plant, which is scheduled to become commercially operational in June 2003.
The ABS/BD projects will use 19,000 t/y of styrene, 8,000 t/y of acrylonitrile, 1,000 t/y of alfa methyl styrene and 34,000 t/y of C₄ Cuts as feedstock. Styrene and C₄ Cuts will be supplied by Tabriz complex. Acrylonitrile and alfa methyl styrene will be imported.





NPC's engineering polymers facility is forging ahead with its implementation activities expecting to start up in the third quarter of 2003. The facility is being implemented by Khuzestan Petrochemical Co. (KZPC) an NPC subsidiary .
Basic engineering of the project has been completed . Its detailed engineering is 99% complete while 97% of procurement and over 90% of construction, erection and commissioning work has been finished. Overall, the project is 93% complete by April 2003.
The project is being developed in Petrochemical Special Economic Zone in an area of 10 hectares. It is wholly owned by NPC and will produce 25,000-t/y of polycarbonate epoxy resin, 5,000-t/y of liquid epoxy resin and 5,000-t/y of solid epoxy resin.
German engineering company Salzgitter has supplied technology and basic engineering for the plants. Namvaran of Iran and Noyvallesina of Italy are detailed engineering & procurement contractors for the project. It involves an investment of $198mn.
The plant will consume 2.5mm³/y of natural gas, 29,000t/y of caustic soda, 1,500-t/y of HCL, 9,500-t/y of chlorine, 8,000-t/y of acetone, 27,000-t/y of phenol and 5,000-t/y of epichlorohydrin. Acetone, phenol and epichlorohydrin will be imported while the remaining required raw materials are supplied domestically.



Fajr centralized utility plants have gradually come onstream since February 2002 preparing for supplying NPC projects, which verge on starting up in Petrochemical Special Economic Zone, with the needed utilities, including electricity, water, oxygen, nitrogen and air. A 132kv line for transmission of 100MW from the national grid with a length of 31km was completed in February 2002. The compressed air plant with a capacity of 32,000nm³/h and an air separation unit with a capacity of 37,000nm³/h have been completed and were brought onstream supplying clients with air and instrumentation air since September 2002. Production of nitrogen and oxygen has started since December 2002. The oxygen plant has an output capacity of 19,000nm³/h while output capacity of the nitrogen unit is 18,000nm³/h. They are the largest plants of their kind in Iran. The water treatment plant has also been finished. It has a water intake capacity of 7,000m³/h, which is supplied by Karoon River. The plant consists of a 7,000m³/h fire fighting water unit, a 450m³/h service water unit, a 250m³/h potable water unit, a 3,900 m³/h RO water unit, which is the largest unit of its kind in Iran, and a 980m³/h demineralized water unit.
The power and steam generation plants which have a capacity of 585MW electricity and 780mt/h of steam are progressively heading towards completion with substation (GIS)which started up in early September 2002 supplying power to users' substations. Two auxiliary boilers with a combined capacity of 100mt/h were commissioned in February 2003.
Fajr has been carrying out two affluent treatment plants in two different phases to ensure environment-friendly operations. One of the plants constituting the first phase was completed in September 2002 while the second plant is slated to be up and running by May 2003. Fajr centralized utility plant will be fully completed with a cost of $500mn by 2003.