JPC Making Headways in Polymer Production

EghtesadOnline: Jam Petrochemical Company in southern Iran has succeeded in producing a high grade of polyethylene that will cut down the import of one of the world's most popular polymers.

News ID: ۷۷۸۶۷۷

21 August 2017

"Production of pipe-grade high density polyethylene at JPC has reached a stable rate and domestic petrochemical companies will no longer need to import the product," Hassan Mirafzali, managing director of the company, was quoted as saying by Shana on Sunday.

He underlined the procurement of catalysts as the single most important challenge for producing a wide range of chemical and petrochemical products.

"We have acquired the necessary catalyst for this type of polymer from Asian markets instead of western countries," Financial Tribune auoted Mirafzali as saying.

The production of most industrially important chemicals involves catalysis. Selecting the right catalyst for each product is a crucial and sensitive issue because an error in the catalyst can shut down a whole petrochemical complex.

The material displays improved performance in a variety of piping applications. Polyethylene is the world's most versatile and widely produced polymer. High density polyethylene is used for producing plastic bottles, corrosion-resistant piping, geomembranes and plastic lumber.

JPC is also producing a high density grade of polyethylene used for producing the so-called PE100 pipes that possess higher long-term strength and are used in oil, gas water and wastewater pipeline networks.

The company expects to launch the first phase of its acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene plant by March next year with a total capacity of 200,000 tons annually. ABS is a hard, heat-resistant engineering plastic widely used in housing appliances, pipe fittings and automotive interior parts.

Jam Petrochemical Company owns some of the largest petrochemical facilities in the southern port city of Asalouyeh in Bushehr Province. It is one of the world's biggest producers of wide-ranging olefins, according to the company's website.

Iran is taking concrete steps in developing its domestic pipe-manufacturing sector. The National Iranian Oil Company signed an agreement with a Spanish consortium in May to manufacture special pipelines using corrosion resistant alloys (CRAs).

The $550 million deal between NIOC, Spain-based industrial group Tubacex and Iran's Sepahan Steel Company is aimed at manufacturing 600 kilometers of CRA pipelines in three years.

As per the terms of the agreement, Tubacex, in collaboration with Japan's JFE, will transfer the know-how to produce corrosion resistance alloys used in manufacturing oil and gas pipelines to its Iranian business partner, Sepahan Steel Company.