NEFT KİMYA PROSESLƏRİ İNSTİTUTU

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SHORT HISTORY of FOUNDATION and ACHIEVEMENTS of the Yu.H.MAMMADALIYEV INSTITUTE of PETROCHEMICAL PROCESSES

Academician Yu.H.Mammadaliyev Institute of Petrochemical Processes of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan is the leader in home petrochemical and chemical science, one of the prominent research centers of former USSR and the Republic.

The discovery of the oil-rich fields in Azerbaijan in the second half of the 19th century and the subsequent intensive extraction and refining of oil in twenties of the last century raised the issue of intensification fundamental, experimental studies in oil refining and petrochemistry. In this regard, in 1920, central chemistry laboratory was established under union “Azneft” and its first head was I.F.Gutt (1924-1933). In 1929 on the base of this laboratory Azerbaijan Oil Research Institute (AzORI) was established. Directors of the institute were M.A.Kapelyushnikov in 1933-1936, T.A.Tahirova in 1940-1942 and N.A.Luchenko in 1942-1944. 1929 should be considered as the year of creation of the institute.

Later in 1946 on the base of AzORI two independent institutes: Azerbaijan Scientific-Research Institute of Oil Refining (AzSRIOR) and Azerbaijan Scientific-Research Institute of Oil Extraction (AzSRIOE) were organized.

Directors of AzSRIOR were H.H.Hashimov in 1945-1951 and V.S.Aliyev in 1951-1959.

Due to the intensive progress of the researches in the petrochemistry field in the country by the initiative of academician Yu.H.Mammadaliyev within Academy of Sciences of the Republic the Institute of Petrochemical Processes was organized in 1959. The main base of it was AzSRIOR and Oil Institute including some of laboratories of the Institute of Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic. In 1959-1962 M.F.Nagiyev, in 1962-1987 V.S.Aliyev led the institute. Yu.H.Mam­madaliyev’s name was given to the institute in 1962. In 1967 IPCP was awarded with Order of Labour Red Banner.

In 1965-1969 on the base of some laboratories of the Institute of Petrochemical Processes 5 specialized institutes were established:

- Institute of Chemistry of Additives;

- Institute of Theoretical Problems of Chemical Technology (currently Institute of Catalysis and Inorganic Chemistry);

- Branch of the IPCP in the Sumgayit (currently Institute of Polymer Material;

- Azerbaijan branch of AUSRI of Natural Gas;

- The Sector at Radiation Research (currently Institute of Radiation Problems).

Thus, IPCP gave a start to the development of the chemistry science and chemical industry in Azerbaijan.

During 1987-2011 academician M.I.Rustamov led the istitute. Starting from 2011 academician V.M.Ab­basov has been leading the institute.

During 83 years of the institute existence its scientists dedicated their researches to studying Azerbaijani crude oils, development of scientific bases of their efficient refining in order to obtain new fuels and oils, creation of new technologies and catalysts for processes of oil refining and petrochemistry, carrying out fundamental researches in the field of catalysis, organic, physical and polymer chemistry, petrochemical synthesis, working out integrated schemes of oil-refining deve­lopment and petrochemical complexes of Azerbaijan.

Except the above-mentioned, to the scientists who played a great role in the development of oil research and its refining and also training of national personnel for Azerbaijan can be included the whole pleiad of Russian scientists: L.G.Gurvich, N.D.Zelinski, S.S.Nametkin, M.A.Kapelyushni­kov, I.F.Gutt, N.A.Lutsenko, V.F.Gerr, K.P.Likhushin, A.A.Balandin, M.A.Plotko, N.I.Chernozhu­kov, L.A.Gukhman, K.V.Kostrin and others. Along with this at various times in the institute such eminent Azerbaijani scientists as Yu.H.Mammadaliyev, N.F.Naghiyev, V.S.Aliyev, A.M.Guliyev, V.S. Gutirya, M.A.Dalin, R.G.Ismayilov, S.D.Mehtiyev, B.K.Zeynalov, I.A.Orujova, Sh.M.Mammadov, S.M.Aliyev, B.A.Dadashev, M.A.Mardanov, R.G.Rizayev, N.M.Huseynov, S.A.Sultanov and others worked. Academicians A. H. Azizov and D. B. Taghiyev worked at the institute for many years.

Academicians M.I.Rustamov, M.A.Mammadyarov, N.M.Seyidov, V.M.Abbasov, A.H.Azizov, Corresponding members of NAS of Azerbaijan F.I.Samadova, N.F.Janibayov, Kh.M.Alimardanov, Z.H.Asadov are productively working in the institute at the present moment.

Due to the fundamental researches of these scientists new research directions were es­tablished. For the first time in the country a unique school of oil refiners and petrochemists and also chemists - technologists was formed who made a significant contribution to the development of the national science and industry.

In recent years the institute has achieved essentially new results in the traditional directions of studies, in particular:

  • there have been carried out deep researches on studying high-molecular heteroatomic com­pounds of petroleum resinous - asphaltene substances, microelement composition as well as oxygen - and nitrogen - containing compounds. Data - base on quality of Azerbaijan petroleum has been created.
  • researches are carried out on obtaining of high - quality automobile petrols, meeting the modern requirements of Euro - 4 and Euro - 5 regarding the contents of sulphur, benzene and aro­matic compounds, using  processes of  hydrofining of light gasoline fraction of catalytic cracking, processes of hydrogenation and alkylation of benzene fraction of reforming gasoline as well as with use of octane-raising oxygenated additives. The possibility of expanding resources of high - octane petrol at the expense of involving low - quality coking petrol into the process is also being studied.
  • novel methods of obtaining new monomers – bi-and tricyclic esters of acrylic acids, as well as hybridized phenol oligomers by polycondensation of the known resols and novolacs have been worked out. On the basis
  • of the new hybridized phenol oligomers and products of their etheri­fication the lacquer compositions and various materials with high exploitation properties have been obtained.
  • the new technology of obtaining biologically active white Naphthalan oil was developed and implemented in experimental - industrial scale. In the following years fungicidal properties of sepa­rate fractions of white Naphthalan oil and also their compositions with essential oils of “Labiates” family plants growing in the republic, in particular in Nakhchivan, on the mushrooms Candida Albicans were investigated.
  • purposeful investigations are conducted in the direction of the synthesis of polymers and copolymers with regulated structure. As a result of the done works, it was established that the free, stable radical (4 - carboxyamide - 2,2,5,5 - tetramethyl pyrrolidine - N - oxyl) is an efficient regula­tor of the chain growth in the radical polymerization of styrene and its copolymerization with butoxymethyl norbornyl- and - glycidyl esters of methacrylic acid according to the “living chains” mechanism. The obtained polymer products are characterized by low values of coefficient of poly­dispersity.
  • there has been developed a new direction of dehydrodisproportionation and dehydroal­kylation of alkylcyclohexanes to xylene isomers with prevailing para - isomer, using methanol and zeolite catalysts modified by transition metals, as well as of liquid-phase and induced oxidation of cycloolefinic, alkenylaromatic and unsaturated bridged-hydrocarbons in the presence of homo­geneous or highly - dispersed nanacomposite catalysts to respective ketones, diols, lactones, ace­tals, dibasic acids, and other compounds.
  • there have been developed new homogeneous bifunctional cobalt-containing catalytical dithosystems, heterogenized on the different carriers, and also new cobalt - containing dithio­phosphorylated zeolites for the process of gas – phase polymerization of butadiene have been synthesized. It was shown that these heterogenized catalysts possess higher acitivity (10-20 times) and stereoselectivity than their homogeneous analogs.
  • there have been developed new Zr - and Ti - containing “single site” catalysts for the pro­cess of obtaining high-density polyethylene of various degrees of crystallinity. In contradistinction to metallocene catalysts, new catalysts allow to obtain linear and branched polyethylene of high density without other isomonomers in mild conditions.

Nowadays the institute faces new tasks connected with reorientation of directions of scientific researches according to the requirements of time, in consideration of peculiarities of petroleum and gas refining as well as petrochemical industry of the republic, modern and perspective require­ments put forward to petroleum products and also ecological standards. Equally with traditionally developed directions of researches of the institute in the field of oil refining and petrochemistry, recently researches are carried out in such new directions as creation of ecologically clean ion - liquids technologies for the processes of petrochemistry and oil refining, purification of petroleum and heavy petroleum residues from asphaltenic - resinous compounds and metals using the method of supercritical extraction, development of technology for obtaining biofuels and fuel components on the base of vegetable and also non - petroleum raw materials, development of new technologies for obtaining nanocarbonic materials, application of fullerenes in the processes of hydrocarbons oxidation, researches in the field of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials, creation of technology for processing polymeric wastes into motor fuels, asymmetric synthesis on the base of petro­chemical raw materials, investigation of medicinal crude oils of Azerbaijan and creation of medi­cinal compositions on their base.

In particular:

  • by using nanodispersed Ni - and Mo - containing catalyst there has been worked out a hyd­rocracking process for mazut mixtures and polymeric wastes (polyethylene, polyethylene tereph­thalate) which allows to  raise the output of the light petroleum products from 60 up to 90% at the expense of rational utilization of polymers.
  • using unique properties of CO2 in supercritical state, in the institute there has been created and patented a preparative method for determination of asphaltenes in petroleum and its heavy residues. The proposed method can be used not only for quantitative determination of asphaltenes in the petroleum and petroleum products but also for their isolation in sufficient amounts for investigation of composition and property. As a result of investigations, there has been developed a new few - stage, ecologically safe technology of hydrocracking of petroleum and its heavy residues with their preliminary purification from resinous - asphaltenic compounds and metals.
  • researches on obtaining  fuels on the basis of alternative non - petroleum raw materials (methanol, CH4, syntez gas etc.) are widely carried out.
  • new methods of obtaining biodiezel fuels on the base of renewable vegetable raw materials (cotton, corn, soya - bean and sunflower oils) of Azerbaijan are developed. In particular, methods of obtaining monoalkyl ethers from triglycerides of vegetable oils by methods of transesterification and etherification have been developed. The properties of the obtained ethers themselves as well as their 10 and 20% compounds with mineral diesel fuel have been studied. A possibility of obtaining perspective diesel fuels of new generation (“green diesel”) by the method of joint processing mixed raw material (mineral diesel distillate/vegetable oil) has been studied, physico-chemical and ex­ploitation characteristics of obtained fuels have been studied and a conclusion on correspondence of the obtained fuel to perspective requirements and standards has been made.
  • for the first time the catalytic properties of C60 - C70 fullerenes have been revealed in the world practice in the process of oxidation of saturated hydrocarbons and petroleum fractions to synthetic carboxylic acids. While using fullerene as a promoter of Mn naphthenate in the same reactions, a synergetic effect between fullerene and catalyst has been revealed, due to which reduction of catalyst consumption has become possible.

Studies on development of ionic-liquid technologies are currently being conducted in the following areas:

  • synthesis of useful new ionic-liquids as catalyst and solvent in petrochemical processes;
  • ionic-liquid catalysis of oligomerization and polymerization processes;
  • selective purification of oil fractions by ionic-liquids content compositions;
  • synthesis of oil collecting and dispersing ionic-liquids and grafting ionic-liquids type sur­face active substances.

Systematic researches are conducted in the field of creating nanotechnologies and nano­materials in the following directions:

  • nanocatalysis (obtaining of nanodispersed oxides, heterogenization of homogeneous cata­lysts);
  • investigation of transformations of hydrocarbons and their fractions using nanocatalysts;
  • obtaining and investigation of nanopolimers and nanopolymeric composite materials;
  • development of methods for obtaining nanocarbon tubes and coke on the basis of heavy pet­roleum residues, polymer wastes, natural gas, and etc;
  • development of methods for obtaining nanocarbon – mineral adsorbents of various desti­nations;
  • development of new rational methods of obtaining nanocatalysts and nanocarbon materials.

Growth and development of the institute are mostly determined by its scientific potential. More than 130 books, monographs, textbooks and teaching aids, 20 bibliographies, 25 preprints, thematic reviews, collections and catalogs, 12 conference materials, 15 standards were prepared and published, and 66 normative - technical documents were compiled by the employees of the institute during 2000-2014. And also more than 3,500 articles and theses have been published in the republican and foreign press. About 1000 of them are published in the foreign press. During the period of activity, as the result of scientific-research works 1000 certificates of authorship, 150 patents of  foreign countries (Russia, USA, Canada, England, Germany, France, Japan, Nether­lands, Romania, Iran, Iraq, Algeria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden, and etc.), 140 patents of Azerbaijan Republic, 3 patent of EURASIA and licenses have been obtained by the scientists of the Institute. At the present time, being the owner of more than 50 patents the institute reserves the legitimate right on objects of industrial property.

Since 2000 the journal “Processes of Petrochemistry and Oil Refining” and since 2013 the journal “Science World” at the Presidium of NAS of Azerbaijan have been published in Russian and English languages in IPCP.

Over the years the scientists of the institute had close scientific contacts with academic and scientific-research institutes of the former Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, USA, Iran, Thailand, Germany, Turkey, Egypt, and other countries. The six employees of the institute during the year have successfully passed scientific practice in Germany, in the cities of Rostock and Munich. The Institute continues joint scientific researches with the foreign countries: USA (Emory University, the company “Phenomenex”), Russia (ASR with the institutes of chemical profile), Tur­key (the firm “Tubitac”, the University of Ege, the firm “Ishiqsan-kimya”), Kingdom of Saudi Ara­bia (the firm “SABIC”, King Abdul Aziz’s scientific-technical center), Thailand (Institute of Che­mistry of the Academy of Science of Thailand), Georgia (Institute of Physics and Organic Che­mistry, Tbilisi State University), France, England (the firms of “Shell”, “Oil Refining Plants of Mobile”), Kazakhstan (Institute of Catalyses and electrochemistry).

The Institute has been the organizer of a number of forums, including;

  • I Petrochemical Symposium of Socialist Countries (1978);
  • XII Mendeleyev Congress on General and Applied Chemistry (1981);
  • Republican conference on metal complex catalysis (1990);
  • I-II scientific-technical meeting on catalytic cracking (1991-1992);
  • I - /III Baku International Mammadaliyev Conferences on Petrochemistry

(1994; 1996; 1998; 2000; 2002; 2005; 2009; 2012);

  • Seminar consultation on “Priorities of Chemical science and technologies (2001);
  • Azerbaijan – Russian Symposium on catalysis with international participation “Solution of problems of catalysis in oil refining and petrochemistry” (2010; 2013);
  • Republican Scientific Conference of young scientists “Actual problems of Azerbaijan oil extraction, oil refining and petrochemical industries” (2011);
  • IPCP was one of the organizers of the International conference of chemistry and chemical engineering in the University Qafqaz in 2013 (Baku);
  • Republican scientific-practical conference on petrochemical synthesis, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of academician S.J.Mehdiyev (2014).

At present the Institute possesses sufficient highly - qualified scientific potential. The institu­te is equipped with modern apparatus and instrumental facilities which are constantly renewed that allow conducting researches on the modern scientific level. (Addition )

The Scientific Council of IPCP, D 01.031 Dissertation Council and functioning within it the United Scientific Seminar, Small Scientific Council of IPCP and Council of Young Scientists and Specialists are operative in the institute.

The Institute has the Council of Young Scientists and Specialists. Scientists of IPCP are actively taking part in the training of young scientific specialists and are having a teaching activity in the universities of Republic.

In the Institute of Petrochemical Processes named after the famous scientist and acade­mician Yu.H.Mammadaliyev there is his Memorial Museum. In front of the building of the Institute there is a bust of academician Yu.H.Mammadaliyev. Exhibits showing the scientific and social activities of the scientist, voice recordings of his speeches at the various international conferences and symposiums have been presented in the museum. This museum is the only museum in the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan being managed by Ministry of Culture and Tourism