Baku, Azerbaijan, June 1
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran has signed a confidentiality agreement with China to import the technology for producing propylene from methanol, Mohammad-Hossein Peivandi, Deputy Director of the National Iranian Petrochemical Industries Company, said.
This is an opportunity for us to work on the technology to produce propylene from methanol and be turned into the key producer of methanol, Iran's Fars news agency quoted Peivandi as saying June 1.
A confidentiality agreement, also known as a non-disclosure agreement is a legal contract between two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish to restrict access to or by third parties.
"A wide range of products are produced from propylene. In China both propylene and ethylene are produced from methanol, not from natural gas, but from coal."
"For the time being, we have obtained the technology to produce chemical grade of propylene and we are working to increase its purity. However, we should import related technical know-how from western countries, which is dependent on the result of nuclear talks," he said.
Iran's Deputy Oil Minister and CEO of the National Iranian Petrochemical Industries Abbas Sheri Moqaddam said May 10 that new methanol projects are underway in the country.
Right now, projects are underway to boost Iran's methanol production capacity to 19 million metric tons per year, he said.
Pointing out that Iran's methanol output stands at 5 million metric tons per year, he said that the new projects would turn Iran into the world's largest producer of methanol in five years.
He further estimated that due to increased production and lowering gas prices, Iran's methanol would reduce the price of the product in the global market.
He added that Iran has put on agenda a plan to launch factories for turning methanol into propylene as the basic material for many petrochemical processes.
He said that there are also 14 projects underway for turning methanol into propylene.
Edited by CN
