Tabriz Petrochemical Company has developed a RTO system to collect and dispose emissions from its ABS unit and the system will be operational within two weeks, the managing director said.
Siavash Derafshi said the system, built at a cost of 640 billion rials ($4.3 million), is being used in the country for the first time, NIPNA, the news agency of National Petrochemical Company, reported.
The regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) is an energy-saving system that oxidizes and decomposes volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and odorous emissions that are discharged from industrial or manufacturing processes at 850°C or higher. It is suitable for the treatment of high concentration gases.
It achieves emission destruction through the process of high temperature thermal oxidation, using the proper mix of temperature, residence time, turbulence and oxygen to convert pollutants into carbon dioxide and water vapor.
VOCs are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids and include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. They cause eye, nose and throat irritation, headaches, nausea, and also can damage the liver, kidney and central nervous system.
According to Derafshi, several Iranian companies and an (unnamed) Italian firm collaborated in developing the system in 10 months.
What makes RTO the most widely used emission abatement technology is its ability to repurpose the thermal energy generated during operation to reduce operating costs and energy consumption of the system itself.
The company has also taken measures to help reduce energy consumption. Installation of new filtering systems plus overhaul of the processing units helped the company save as much as 20 million cubic meters of natural gas as feedstock last year, Derafshi said.
Located in East Azarbaijan Province in the northwest, TPC products include raw polymers, polyethylene, polystyrene and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Its products are sold in the domestic market and exported to Asia and Europe.
