Speaking to Shana, Ali Zyar, commercial director of the National Iranian Oil Refining & Distribution Company (NIORDC), said: "Currently, over 80 percent of catalysts used in refineries are supplied domestically."

Production of the remaining 20% of the catalysts will start immediately to make the country completely self-sufficient in production of catalysts, he said.   

He said NIORDC was currently cooperating with domestic manufacturers and suppliers in the field of catalysts, adding samples of the items have been produced at laboratory level and their pilot projects have proved successful.

Hopefully, industrial production of the remaining 20% of catalyst will begin by the end of the current calendar year to March 20, he added.

The official further noted that production of catalysts in the fields of stream reforming, zing oxide, mercaptan removal, sulfur recycling, isomerization, naphtha reforming, diesel and kerosene hydro-treating have been supported by the commercial directorate of NIORDC and such catalysts are being supplied by domestic companies.

Currently, the catalysts used in the RCD and RFCC units of refineries are being imported and their domestic industrial production will begin soon, Zyar added.

He also emphasized the recovering used catalysts in the country, saying in the past, catalysts were sent to foreign countries for recovering precious metals from them, but now the precious metals of are extracted by domestic companies and are re-supplied to the catalyst producers and returned to the production cycle. This way, a significant amount of foreign exchange will be prevented from exiting the country.