Introduction:

National Petrochemical Company (NPC) in Iran is a fundamental and progressive industry which is growing rapidly. Therefore the establishment of an applied / research complex seemed necessary in order to meet the domestic requirements, cut the countries dependence on a variety of imported petrochemical products as well as acquire the production technology and know-how of value added substances and products. In this regard the process of organizing research affairs of petrochemical industry was started through a department called Research and Development Affairs of National Petrochemical Company followed by further investment and construction of some pilot plants which led to foundation of Pooyesh petrochemical company in 1999. This research complex is located in the vicinity of Arak petrochemical company and its first unit ,polytetra methyl ether glycol(PTMEG) pilot plant ,came into operation in 2001. Regarding the overall policies of NPC and the necessity of centralization of research affairs, Pooyesh company changed into  Petrochemical Research and Technology Company(NPC-RT) in 2002 with the goals including conducting fundamental and applied research and formulation of know-how based on petrochemical industries requirements. This company is entrusted with the tasks of defining, approving, implementing and supervising petrochemical research projects and comprises Tehran centre (conducting fundamental projects) ,Arak and Special Zone centers (conducting applied/technical projects).

Overall goals and fields of activity:

1.    Planning and performing research projects in order to achieve production process know- how of petrochemical products.

2.    Design, implementation and operation of pilot-scale research unit.

3.    Planning and performing research projects in petrochemical industries such as catalyst, additive production processes, process modification and energy optimization

4.    Identification of technical problems in industrial units and offering specialist solutions.

5.    Supporting research activities and cooperation with domestic and global scientific and research centers in regard to petrochemical research affairs

6.    Design, implementation and operation of bench- scale research set-ups.

 Know – how of pilot plants:

Following the preliminary study by Research & Development Affairs of NPC, the know-how of PTMG, the recycling, hydrazine hydrate (H.H), hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2), Freon 134a pilot plans at first stage and then HDPE and PP/PE pilot plants were purchased and delivered to Arak center.

Arak center laboratories

Laboratories of Arak center consist of research laboratory, analysis laboratory, polymer industry workshop and local laboratories of pilot plants which have been founded in several buildings in an aggregate area of 2282 m2.

The purposes of these laboratories are to do QC tests on raw material and products of pilot plants, conduct research plans and simulate bench-scale and lab-scale chemical processes.

A) Research laboratory

Regarding the facilities in the research laboratory as well as space and benches in addition to various glass set-ups for approved research projects, this laboratory is capable of doing various liquid, gas-liquid, gas-gas chemical and catalytical reactions at temperatures up to 400˚C and pressures up to 60 bars. Main activities of this laboratory include lab-scale and bench-scale production related to approve research projects. A list of some important pieces of equipment comes as follows.

Autoclave test instruments of Buchi reactor, refrigerated centrifuge, vacuum oven, Catatest equipped with GC for catalyst reactor tests, 15-tonne press for forming powder catalysts, calcinations furnace, sieve, OCM reactor, Aromatic compounds oxidation set-up, PVC production set-up.

B) Analysis laboratory

Taking advantage of state-of-the-art equipment and experienced well-trained personnel including technicians, experts and senior experts, this laboratory is capable of doing a wide range of analyses required by research projects of this center and other academic and research centers as well as offering specialist services to private sector. A list of equipment and instruments in this laboratory a long with their scope of application is represented in the following table:

 C) Polymer industries workshop:

Special attention to polymer products paid by NPC, underscores the need for relevant research. Therefore polymer industries workshop in Arak center a long side the cooperation with custom-oriented group located in Tehran center pursues the following objectives:

- Conducting applied research in line with development of products and their applications.

- Service offering and cooperation with other academic and research centers in regard to conducting research projects in the field of polymer.

- Specialist service offering to polymer pilot plants in NPC-RT Company.

- Technical service offering and cooperation with NPC subsidiaries.

- Service offering and scientific, research and technical support to NPC polymer products customers.

Considering the existing instruments in analysis laboratory, and equipment as well as experienced and skillful personnel in custom-oriented group, there exist remarkable capabilities in polymer field. Equipment and machines of this workshop at present are listed as follows. Furthermore, there comes a brief description of pipe processing machine.

Pipe line plastic Machine

This pipe processing machine is BATTENFELD.Bex-45-30B pipeline plastic machine which is made in Germany with the following specifications:

- Screw diameter: 45mm

- L/D: 30

- Capable of producing single –layer polyolefin pipe of 25, 50,90mm

- Capacity: 150-180kg/hr propylene &200-240kg/hr poly Ethylene

- equipped with advanced control units

Polymer &chemical Engineering research department:

Approaches:

Taking advantage of experienced personnel including senior experts in polymer and chemical engineering this department possesses high potency to conduct and supervise the research projects in line with research goals and vision of NPC-RT Company.

1.    Effective connection with petrochemical companies in order to find out technical problems of complexes and offer specialist solutions.

2.    Effective interaction with SPEC petrochemical company in order determine highly –used imported raw material required by petrochemical companies on account of conducting projects to achieve their production know –how in the country .

3.    Construction of pilot –and industrial scale catalyst production units

4.    Close tie with Arak University in order to conduct joint research projects

5.    Construction of pilot plants based on the acquired know –how in NPC-RT Company

6.    Holding training courses in polymer and chemical engineering  

7.    Construction of catalyst production pilot plant for polymer units

Abilities:

1.    Offering PTMEG know-how in various grades

2.    Possessing the Know –how of producing  chemicals  in hydrazine Hydrate (H-H),Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2),Freon(134a)with annual capacity of 100 tonnes and Heavy Poly Ethylene with annual capacity of 1200 tonnnes as well as Poly propylene /polyethylene with annual Capacity  of 2000 tonnes.

3.    Investigating technical problems of petrochemical Complexes and offering specialist solutions

4.    Conducting projects which lead to achievement of the production know-how of desired petrochemical products

5.    Development and optimization of processes in industrial units in the form of project definition including design and implementation

6.    lab-scale and pilot –scale tests on industrial catalysts (both polymer and chemical)

7.    Modeling and simulation of industrial units

8.    Training

-       Holding laboratory courses of chemical engineering

-       Holding joint polymer and chemical engineering training courses with university

General Engineering research department

Taking advantage of central instrument workshops and required equipment as well as experienced personnel in electrical, mechanical, civil and technical inspection disciplines, this department is willing to offer technical services to relevant applicants.

 Abilities:

1.    Design of electrical, control and instrument systems for research set-ups and pilot plants.

2.    Design, implementation and supervision of research projects in the aforementioned fields.

3.    Construction of research set-ups.

4.    Conducting research projects in the field of instruments, mechanics and technical inspection.

5.    Calibration of instruments.