Tehran, YJC. The Islamic Republic is building the world’s largest methanol production unit.
The giant Kaveh methanol project, implemented in the Persian
Gulf littoral city of Bandar Dayyer, has made 70 percent progress, deputy head
of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) announced.
Mohammad Hassan Peyvandi said facility is being built to
produce 2 million tons of methanol a year, 7,000 tons a day.
The official stated the 1st phase of the plant will start operation
in August, with full operation expected in 2016, which is four years behind the
initial schedule, Press TV reported.
Switzerland’s Casale SA and Iran’s Petrochemical Industries
Design and Engineering Company (PIDEC) have been cited as providing
engineering, license and procurement services.
Iran hopes to raise its methanol production capacity to 25
million tons per year in the next five years and establish itself as the
biggest supplier of the product.
Methanol has been tipped as alternative fuel in ships. In
2014, Japan and South Korea won the first orders to build vessels powered by
methanol.
The fuel is already used in light aircraft and racing cars
and its global demand is rising. Beside being a green fuel, it is cheaper and
more abundant than diesel.
It is also preferable to LNG. Unlike liquefied natural gas which
has to be super-cooled 162 degrees Celsius below zero for transportation,
methanol can be stored in ordinary tanks.