TEHRAN (NIORDC) - Iranian companies are currently supplying the lion"s share (80%) of the catalysts used in petroleum refining operations in a push to render the country fully self-sufficient in the field of refining catalysts.

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

The officials aid that domestic manufacturers have acquired the savvy to produce most of the key catalysts used in refineries and have devised plans to produce the remaining 20% by the end of the current Iranian calendar year to March 20, 2019.

He said the catalysts have been produced at laboratory level and will be industrially manufactured by March.

"NIORDC has endorsed domestic manufacturers and suppliers in the field of catalysts," he said.

The catalysts used in stream reforming, zing oxide, mercaptan removal, sulfur recycling, isomerization, naphtha reforming, diesel and kerosene hydro-treating are being domestically supplied, he said.

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

He also emphasized the recovery of used catalysts in the country, saying in the past, catalysts were sent for foreign countries for recovering precious metals, but now the precious metals of these catalysts 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.