Seyed Reza Qasemi-Shahri said that for the first time in the
history of Iran's petrochemical industry, the localization of the palladium
catalyst was carried out using the capabilities of Iranian knowledge-based
companies, following the policies of Abdolali Ali-Asgari, the managing director
of Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC), based on indigenizing
equipment, goods and catalysts that are strategic, key and high-consuming for
the subsidiary companies.
He said that accordingly, with taking risks and supporting
Iranian knowledge-based companies, the first batch of the localized palladium
catalyst, which was monopolized by Japanese, European and American companies,
was delivered to Tondgouyan Petrochemical Plant.
He added that the batch of the localized palladium catalyst
from one of the domestic knowledge-based companies was 3.5 tons dry and
equivalent to 5.8 tons wet from Ardabil to Mahshahr. He said that the total
ordered catalyst of this company was about 14 tons of dry catalyst, which was
the first batch delivered.
The managing director of Tondgouyan Petrochemical Plant said:
"The total consumption of Tondgouyan Petrochemical Plant in two phases
based on dry catalyst is 37 tons (equivalent to 62 tons of wet catalyst), which
is estimated to be worth about $15 million for both phases of Tondgouyan Petrochemical
Plant."
Qasemi-Shahri stressed that in addition to saving $15
million in hard currency by localizing the palladium catalyst, the risk of
reducing or stopping production at Tondgouyan Petrochemical Plant due to the
lack of sales of this catalyst by foreign companies has reached zero. He added:
"The localization of the catalyst will lead to increased production
stability in this polyethylene terephthalate chain."