Power plants may use mazut for electricity generation provided that they are equipped with an air quality control system, the Department of Environment’s deputy for climate change said.
“If power plants have a control system, there is no problem with using mazut. All over the world, power stations use liquid fuel like diesel and mazut by installing pollution control equipment on their smokestacks to prevent air pollution, while none of our power plants has such equipment,” ISNA also quoted Dariush Golalizadeh as saying.
Referring to DOE’s efforts to force power plants to install air quality control systems, he said: “We asked the previous government and the former president [Hassan Rouhani] ordered the energy and oil ministries to do so, but it did not happen as the ministries claimed that our power plants are old and it is not possible to install such equipment.”
Control technologies can help reduce hazardous air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide.
As another solution to reduce the harmful emissions of burning mazut, the official named desulfurization of the liquid fuel.
“Power plants can reach a deal with the Oil Ministry to receive low-sulfur mazut, or they can reduce the amount of sulfur in the fuel they receive with the help of other companies,” Golalizadeh added.
Mazut produced in the refineries has a very low quality as its sulfur content is not removed, so when it burns, it releases large volumes of polluting particles into the air.
According to the official, the current sulfur level in mazut is 3.5% but it should be less than 1% to avoid harmful emissions.
Pollution Plagues Population
Pollution continues to plague major Iranian cities, especially Tehran, and the blame largely falls on worn-out cars and power plants burning mazut.
Rains do help curb pollution from time to time, but smog and pollution return soon after.
Over the years, the use of diesel and mazut, along with temperature inversion in winter, has had a serious negative impact on air pollution.
Mazut is not suitable for power plants because it also doubles maintenance costs, increases water consumption and reduces output.
Most thermal power plants in Iran are natural-gas based and liquefied fuels have long-term adverse effects. The use of diesel and mazut instead of gas in power plants and other industries increases greenhouse gases.
As more liquid fuel is burnt, higher volumes of toxic fumes are released into the atmosphere, making a bad pollution situation worse.
When power plants do not receive enough gas, they need to either reduce output or burn liquid fuel to avoid outages.
Oil and power officials believe that mazut is not a desirable option, but to compensate for natural gas shortage and keep thermal plants running, they are compelled to use mazut.