NPC starts PX production at Aromatics No. 3 NPC has achieved on-spec paraxylene (PX) from its Aromatics No. 3 project in Bandar Imam. The facility started to yield on-spec product on 2 May 2005. Since then, it has been onstream with a purity of 99.83%. The project, which was implemented and is operated by NPC's subsidiary, Bou Ali Sina Petrochemical Co. has the capacity to produce 400,000 tonne/year of PX, 30,000 tonne/year of orthoxylene, 179,000 tonne/year of benzene. The PX output is meant to feed two 350,000 tonne/year purified terephthalic acid (PTA) units at the same site. The facility also produces 199,000 tonne/year of raffinate, 23,000 tonne/year of heavy aromatics, 39,000 tonne/year of LPG, 350,000 tonne/year of light ends, 488,000 tonne/year of heavy ends and 21,000 tonne/year of C5 cut per year. It consumes condensates as well as pyrolysis gasoline as its feedstock which are supplied by the nearby Olefin No. 6. The first phase of the plant, including the pre-fractionation unit, was completed and brought onstream in late 2003, and the second phase was completed in the third quarter of 2004. Implementation activities at the plant commenced in early 2000. The project's output is used for the production of PTA, which is used as feed to produce polyester polymer. It is also used to produce pharmaceuticals, insecticides, styrene monomer, ethylbenzene, LAB, phenol which is feed for producing nylon, solvents and a number of other chemicals.




NPC expands capacity of its ethylene pipeline NPC has decided to expand the capacity of its inland ethylene pipeline from 1.5m tonne/year to 2.8m tonne/year. The 2,285km pipeline, already under construction, will extend from Assaluyeh in south of Iran to north western inland regions of the country. It will result in the creation of new ethylene derivative petrochemical complexes in the cities of Gachsaran, Khoramabad, Kermanshah, Sanandaj and Mahabad. The expansion in the capacity, will allow NPC to build several other ethylene derivative plants en route, including three complexes in Dehdasht, Andimeshk, Hamadan, and Miyandoab. The complex in Sanandaj, the provincial capital of Iran's western Kurdestan province, will have a 300,000 tonne/year high-density polyethylene. It will use 303,000 tonnes of ethylene and 5,000 tonnes of propylene as raw materials per year. Other plants already approved to be built en route the pipeline include a 450,000 tonne/year ethylene glycols (EGs) and a 50,000 tonne/year ethylene oxide (EO) plant in Gachsaran, a 300,000 tonne/year swing linear low-density polyethyelen (lldPE)/high-density polyethylene (hdPE) complex and a 30,000 tonne/year butene-1 plant in Lorestan province, a high-density polyethylene (hdPE) facility in Kermanshah province and a 300,000 tonne/year swing linear low-density polyethylene (lldPE)/high-density polyethylene (hdPE) facility plus a 30,000 tonne/year butene-1 plant in Western Azarbaijan province.