The production of gasoline compliant with Euro-5 emission standards will commence soon at Tehran Oil Refinery, the head of the refining company said.
“The refining 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,” Hamed Armanfar was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
“The completion of a Continuous Catalytic Reformer (CCR) unit and a Reduced Crude Desulfurization (RDC) unit, which have made 85% progress, will enable the refinery to produce Euro-5 gasoline in the near future. The units are estimated to cost $250 million.”
Euro 4 and premium gasoline have octane ratings of 91 and 95 respectively. The two units (CCR/RDC) will help increase octane to above 96 and decrease benzene level to under 1%.
The official noted that more refineries nationwide can start producing Euro-5 gasoline but need advanced technology and significant investments.
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 staging the progressive introduction of increasingly stringent standards.
The National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company is now producing 115 million liters of gasoline per day, of which 79 million liters comply with Euro-5 emission standards.
"NIORDC's Euro-5 gasoline output was zero in 2013," Armanfar said, adding that Shazand Refinery in the central city of Arak, Markazi Province, started producing 17 million liters of high-quality fuel per day in 2014.
Output reached 28 ml/d in 2016 and rose to 43 ml/d in 2017, as the Bandar Abbas Refinery in Hormozgan Province also started producing Euro-5 gasoline.
The Persian Gulf Star Refinery in southern Hormozgan Province went on stream in mid-2017 because of which gasoline production increased by 76% to 76 ml/d. The venture in Tabriz increased the output to 79 ml/d.
Armanfar said the Tehran refinery project for reducing mazut production is in the preliminary phase.
Founded in 1969, Tehran Oil Refinery is located 15 kilometers south of the capital and includes two sections (southern and northern). Its crude refining capacity (250,000 barrels a day) has risen by 200% over the past five decades.
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.
Transfer of Sewage
To help reduce water consumption in the sprawling capital, the second phase of a development plan to transfer sewage from the South Tehran Wastewater Treatment Complex to Tehran Oil Refinery is underway, the official said.
“The plan calls for diverting 19 million cubic meters of wastewater a year to the refinery’s wastewater unit now under construction.”
When completed, 19 million cubic meters of piped water will be saved annually and pumped to small towns in the vicinity of the refinery.
The wastewater, which will be recycled in the refinery’s treatment facility, will have low total dissolved solids (TDS) suitable for cooling towers and the refinery’s fire department.
TDS is a measure of the dissolved combined content of all inorganic and organic substances present in a liquid in molecular, ionized or micro-granular suspended form. The wastewater treatment unit is under construction and seven kilometers of water pipes have been laid.
A 2015 agreement between TWWC and Tehran Refinery calls on the former to provide the latter 2 mcm of wastewater per annum for 30 years.
APG Flaring
The official declared that the amount of associated petroleum gas (APG) burning out from 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.
According to Armanfar, the refinery is committed to working for a low-carbon future, which primarily involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
