Tehran Oil Refining Company has started producing butane, chief of marketing and sales at the company said.
“The company has succeeded in adding this valuable and widely used item to its product lines by separating butane from liquefied petroleum gas,” Hamid Amerian was quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
“Production of butane, in addition to providing part of the feed for the downstream sector, can help improve the quality of liquefied natural gas produced at Tehran Oil Refinery in accordance with standards,” he added.
According to the official, the first shipment of butane was sent to Tabriz Petrochemical Company last week.
Amerian noted that in the first phase of the project, 1,000 barrels of butane are produced daily and in the second phase, which will be launched soon, the production capacity will reach 2,000 barrels per day.
Butane is a hydrocarbon and a highly flammable, colorless, odorless and easily liquefied gas. It is typically used as fuel for cigarette lighters and portable stoves, a propellant in aerosols, a heating fuel, a refrigerant and in the manufacture of a wide range of products.
Founded in 1969, Tehran Oil Refining Company is located 15 kilometers south of the capital. It has a crude refining capacity of 250,000 barrels per day.
The facility is producing 7 million liters of unleaded gasoline with an octane rating of 87 [regular] on a daily basis. Nevertheless, projects are being carried out to enhance gasoline quality.
The completion of a Continuous Catalytic Reformer unit and a Reduced Crude Desulfurization unit, which have made over 85% progress, will enable the refinery to produce Euro-5 gasoline soon. The units are estimated to cost $250 million.
Euro-4 and premium gasoline have octane ratings of 91 and 95 respectively. The two units will help increase octane to above 96 and decrease benzene level to under 1%.
European emission standards define the acceptable limits for exhaust emissions of new vehicles sold in EU member states. The emission standards are defined in a series of European Union directives calling for the progressive introduction of increasingly stringent standards.
Diesel, Mazut, APG
The company’s daily diesel output is 8 million liters, a part of which is sold in Tehran and Alborz provinces, and the rest is piped to Mashhad in Khorasan Razavi Province.
Another project for reducing mazut production at the refinery is in the early stages.
The amount of associated petroleum gas (APG) burnt at the refinery has reached zero and its CO2 output is sent to a carbon dioxide recycling plant in Rey County (South Tehran).
The recycling facility annually converts 40,000 tons of CO2 emissions from the Tehran refinery into industrial and food-grade CO2, meeting 15% of the domestic demand for the product.
Prior to the construction of the complex, carbon dioxide — the most dangerous and prevalent greenhouse gas — was released into the atmosphere, exacerbating air pollution in and around Tehran.
