The Persian Gulf Bidboland Gas Refinery in southern Khuzestan Province is planning to produce jet fuel, managing director of the refinery said.
“A pilot project is underway to desulfurize butane to convert it to jet fuel and so far has cost $60 million,” Oil Ministry news portal Shana quoted Mahmoud Aminnejad as saying.
When completed the facility would annually earn at least $20 million, he noted.
“Removing sulfur from butane is an environment-friendly practice that will cut greenhouse gases in the region in the long run.”
Jet fuel is a specialized type of fuel used to power aircrafts. It is generally of a higher quality than what is used in heating or road transport.
Iran produces fuel used in aircraft and helicopters and exports it to Armenia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Central Asia and Pakistan.
According to the Aviation Fuel Department at the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, about 1,300 aircraft in Iran need 15 million liters of fuel annually.
The $3.4 billion Bidboland refinery in oil-rich southern Khuzestan was inaugurated in January. It has a daily capacity of processing 56 million cubic meters of associated gas from the East and West Karoun oil fields that include several large oilfields straddling the Iran-Iraq border namely Azadegan, Yaran, Yadavaran and Darkhoein.
The huge complex is expected to generate $1.5 billion a year including $700 million from exports.
“The Bidboland facility has an annual production capacity of 10.4 million tons of methane, which will be injected into the gas grid, 1.5 million tons ethane, 1 million tons propane, 600,000 tons gas condensates and 500,000 tons butane to be fed into petrochemical plants in Mahshahr and Gachsaran.”
An estimated 900,000 tons of acid gas produced each year in the plant will be injected into oil wells in the Aghajari fields in Khuzestan to boost crude output and produce 600,000 tons of gas condensates.
Wastewater Treatment
Aminnejad said “We are expanding wastewater treatment facilities at the refinery to do our fair share of curbing water consumption in a region that has been suffering from water scarcity for long.”
A new industrial wastewater plant that cost $4.2 million and has made 70% progress is expected to go on stream in September, he added. Once operational the plant will recycle close to 260,000 cubic meters of wastewater per annum.
Refineries are among major consumers of water for the cooling towers while large quantities of wastewater are produced during the refining of sour gas.
According to the official, there already are two wastewater plants in the refinery with online monitoring systems.
These are equipped with a modern vapor recovery unit that can collect environmentally-hazardous vapors to be reprocessed or destroyed. Officials say Bidboland will play a significant role in improving the downstream petrochemical sector.
The refinery has other programs including construction of special units to monitor products’ quality and establishing the environmental management system of ISO 14001: 2015, which specifies the requirements for an environmental management system to improve environmental protection.
The refinery is also equipped with a modern vapor recovery unit that collects hazardous vapor to be reprocessed or destroyed.
