The ammonia unit of Lordegan Petrochemical Company in western Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province has started production, the managing director said.
“The unit can produce 677,000 tons of ammonia per year,” the Oil Ministry news agency Shana quoted Mohsen Mahmoudi as saying.
Construction of the urea unit of the plant is over and it will come online next month, with an annual production capacity of 1,073 tons.
Lordegan Petrochemical Company is a subsidiary of Iranian Investment Petrochemical Group, located 55km off the city of Lordegan, and $800 million has been invested in the two units so far.
When fully operational, it will have a positive impact on the local economy, including jobs for 2,600 people directly and indirectly, Mahmoudi said.
The main use of ammonia is in the production of fertilizers; ammonia is used directly as a fertilizer and in the production of materials such as ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, mono ammonium phosphate, diammonium phosphate and urea and other chemical fertilizers.
Urea is mainly used as fertilizer in agriculture and as raw material in other industries.
Urea production is expected to rise nearly three times from current levels by the end of the Sixth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2017-22).
Urea output is planned to reach 14.7 million tons per annum from 5 million tons now after the launch of nine petrochemical plants.
Iran plans to add almost 8.4 million tons per year to ammonia output capacity by 2026 with the help of 21 new plants. Cost of the new factories is estimated at $2 billion.