Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 14
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran launched a semi-industrial polypropylene unit in Arak, central Iran, during a ceremony attended by Marzieh Shahdaei, deputy oil minister.
The facility will produce 2,400 tons of polypropylene annually, the oil ministry’s SHANA news agency reported Sept. 14.
Construction of the unit began in 2012 and has provided 40 tons of polypropylene in its pre-startup stage.
Iran’s polypropylene production capacity was 965,000 tons in 2013. The figure is planed to increase to four million tons by 2020 and eight million tons by 2025.
The country’s actual petrochemical output capacity is around 61 million tons per year, but the shortage of natural gas as feedstock, old production units and the sanctions which have dropped exports, have caused petrochemical complexes to work at lower capacity.
The Islamic Republic hopes to bring the capacity to 120 million tons by 2020 and 180 million tons by 2025.
