Taghi Saniei
said on Monday that the company was able to upgrade its absorption towers
without the presence of its European licensor, saying the plant was now able to
fully supply Iran’s need for para-xylene.
He said the project
was complete in a matter of 137 days, adding that 36,000 man-hours of engineering
work were carried out for the purposes of the project.
This project was
one of the major achievements of the facility which was completed for the first
time in the country and added at total of $11 million to the company’s monthly
revenue.
By upgrading the
towers, the plant’s production capacity rose from 460,000 tons/year to 750,000
t/y, he added.
p-Xylene (para-xylene) is an aromatic
hydrocarbon. It is one of the three isomers of dimethylbenzene known
collectively as xylenes. The p- stands for para-, indicating that the two
methyl groups in p-xylene occupy the diametrically opposite substituent
positions 1 and 4.
It is in the positions of the two methyl
groups, their arene substitution pattern, that it differs from the other
isomers, o-xylene and m-xylene.
All xylene isomers are colorless and
highly flammable. The odor threshold of p-xylene is 0.62 parts per million
(ppm).