National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Historical Documents (Document No. 2)

Description:

A draft letter penned down by Baqer Mostofi, then CEO of National Petrochemical Company (NPC), to Mr Mina, a member of Board of Directors, and the instruction by Manouchehr Eqbal, then CEP of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), to Mr Mostfi.

This document proves newly established NPC's CEO Baqer Mostofi's attention to the newly developed science of acquiring protein and water from oil gases. Mostofi got to know this branch of science during an international petrochemical conference outside of Iran. He had consulted with Mr Mina, a member of Board of Directors of NPC, on the issue before reporting to Dr Manouchehr Eqbal, CEO of National Iranian Oil Company.

Text:

Mr Mina,

Pursuant to the note about producing meat and water from oil gases, please be advised that certain studies have been conducted and the issue of meat and protein were discussed in articles presented to the conference on petrochemicals.

In my opinion, if any practical action is to be done in Iran, providing fresh water from gases obtained from oil reservoirs in the [Persian] Gulf waters is an interesting issue for study.

Research about protein production is also interesting. Please hold talks after studying the note so that a report would be drafted and submitted to Dr Eqbal.

Gas-to-Water, Gas-to-Protein

Scientific studies and research about natural gas production technology for converting liquefied natural gas to petrochemical products, including its conversion to nutrition for humans and animals, livestock and aquatics, have long been conducted across the globe.

Throughout this process, natural gas (mainly methane) could be transformed into base proteins for nutrition to feed some animals like fish, cat and dog, as well as transformation into some proteins usable in human food.

As the second largest holder of natural gas reserves, Iran enjoys a great chance to produce single-cell protein (SCP) from methane. An 85% protein content in human and animal food has already passed tests. Fully blended reactor is used for fermentation while M.extorquens has been used as the main bacteria for producing SCP.

(excerpts from an article on Single-Cell Protein (SCP) Production from Natural Gas With Bacteria Mix, by Manouchehr Vosouqi, Iran Alemzadeh and Bahareh Assadi, professors of chemical and petroleum engineering from Sharif University of Technology)

(The original of this article is available at the Petroleum Industry Documents Center.)

Mohammad-Hassan Tadrisi

Petroleum Industry Documents Center