Tehran, Iran, June 6
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Iran is going to turn into a giant methanol producer in a few years, Mohammad Hassan Peyvandi, deputy CEO of the Iranian National Petrochemical Company, said.
He said that in 4-5 years, Iran will own 24 million metric tons of new methanol, Fars news agency reported June 6.
Iran has signed a confidentiality contract with China on importing methanol know how production.
"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 earlier.
Iran has so far suffered lack of expert knowledge to create its downstream propylene industries.
The official noted that after sanctions were imposed on Iran, Iran turned from the West to the East, facilitating its cooperation with China which has now ended in technological relations on the production of methanol.
"We will turn into a giant in methanol production ... This is an opportunity for us to work on turning methanol into propylene. Doing so, we could gain the pulse of the world's propylene, the same way we will gain the pulse of methanol, whereby the price of methanol will decrease," he said.
The projects are underway to boost Iran's methanol production capacity to 19 million metric tons per year.
Iran's methanol output stands at 5 million metric tons per year. The new projects will turn Iran into the world's largest producer of methanol in 5 years.
There are also 14 projects underway in Iran for turning methanol into propylene.
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