CO2 Capture Initiative Underway in Mahshahr

An initiative is underway to collect carbon dioxide emissions in petrochemical plants in the southern port city of Mahshahr, Iran's second largest petrochemical hub in Khuzestan Province.

Iran's Razi Petrochemical Company is planning to install equipment to capture and reuse harmful gases, managing director of Fanavaran Petrochemical Company said, adding that his company and other firms in Mahshahr are expected to follow suit.

"The environment-friendly project at Razi is aimed at reducing the discharge of gases that can otherwise be used to feed petrochemicals … We have plans to purchase and install a compressor similar to that of Razi, which is specifically designed to capture carbon dioxide emissions," Bahman Behzadi was also quoted as saying by NIPNA.

Razi is one of the oldest petrochemical complexes in Iran, which is majority-owned by a consortium of Turkish companies.

Heavy industries, including petrochemical plants, release greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, which harms the environment.

In the wake of climate concerns and international efforts to slow global warming, facilities across the chain of petroleum industry are increasingly turning to measures to streamline their processes and curb the emission of gases that heat up the planet.

The petrochemical output of Asalouyeh, Bushehr Province–home to Iran's largest gas production and petrochemical facilities–amounted to 11.4 million tons in the first half of the present fiscal year that roughly coincides with March-September. That was followed by 9.87 million tons of products from Mahshahr complexes.

Iran is the world's eighth biggest CO2 emitter, producing 552 million tons in 2015, according to the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists.

That partly derives from the country's oil and natural gas production that drives its economy's engine. Iran holds the world's second-largest gas and fourth-biggest crude oil reserves.

Iran is one of the 195 signatories of a global accord to cut greenhouse gas emissions and cap global warming at below 2 degrees Celsius and a green reform across its key petroleum is imperative for the country to meet its climate targets.

According to an official at the Department of Environment, plans are in place to equip all petrochemical plants in Iran with online pollution control systems.

"Thanks to online data processing systems, DOE does not need to send experts to power plants to measure their emissions or analyze the level of pollutants, such as nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide and sulfur," Shina Ansari, director of the Comprehensive Monitoring Office at DOE, said earlier this year.

The government has instructed power plants and refineries to use gas instead of polluting feedstock such as mazut due to the abundance of gas reserves and the rise in South Pars Gas Field output.

Over 1,800 large-scale industrial units, including petrochemical plants, are in line to be equipped with the system.