The removal of sulfur compounds from mazut is vital to reducing air pollution, the Thermal Power Plants Holding Company’s deputy for environmental affairs said.
“If the Oil Ministry supplies power stations with quality (low-sulfur) mazut, there will be much less air pollution,” Sanaz Jafarzadeh was also quoted as saying by the Energy Ministry’s news website Paven.
The National Iranian Oil Company does not care about desulfurization and the mazut delivered to thermal power plants does not comply with environmental standards, she added.
Desulfurization is the process of using hydrogen gas to lower the sulfur content in hydrocarbons, which reduces the emissions of sulfur oxides responsible for acid rain. Countries across the globe have put strict regulations in place to limit the sulfur content in fuels.
The state-run NIOC is supposed to supply power plants with mazut whose sulfur content must not be more than 0.5%, while the current level is 3%.
The official said high-sulfur mazut is not suitable for power plants, as it doubles maintenance costs, increases water consumption and reduces output.
Most thermal power plants are gas-powered and the use of liquefied fuels has 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 adequate natural gas due to high household consumption, they need to either reduce output or burn liquid fuel to avoid outages.
The increased utilization of fossil fuels and industrialization in most parts of the world have led to a remarkable increase in the atmospheric sulfur concentrations. Pollution released by the use of petroleum-based fuels immensely deteriorates air quality despite regulatory and technological advances in place.
SOx, NOx and particulate matter are constantly emitted into the environment, which affects public health, the area’s ecosystem and the wellbeing of people living in urban areas.
Sulfur dioxide, the immediate sulfur compound found in the lower atmosphere after fuel combustion, plays a major role in the formation of acid rain, smog and particulate aerosols.
