Isfahan Oil Refining Company has invested more than $1.4 billion in the past on environmental projects to make it a “green” enterprise in two years, managing director of the refinery said.
“With the help of the development projects, observation of environmental standards, e production of environmentally friendly products in accordance with Euro 4 and 5 standards, we are taking big steps toward shaping a sustainable economy,” Mohsen Qadiri was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
Noting that water consumption poses a serious threat to industries, including Isfahan Oil Refining Company, he said, “With the aim of turning the threat into an opportunity, various projects have been implemented or are being carried out. For the first time in Iran, the national environmental project of treatment and industrial use of municipal wastewater has been launched in Isfahan Oil Refining Company for reducing the use of drinking water resources by 750 cubic meters per hour.
Qadiri stressed that this project was completed in two years at a cost of $3 million.
The refinery now buys municipal wastewater from towns like Shahin-Shahr and reused after treatment in the new plant.
Elaborating on other environmental measures taken by the company, the managing director said, “They include the construction of Shahin-Shahr wastewater pre-treatment unit, conducting preliminary feasibility studies for hybrid cooling that will help save water by about 55% [1,714 million cubic meters per year], and construction of the zero-liquid discharge unit to recover and make full use of the effluent produced by the reverse osmosis unit, based on those studies.”
Qadiri said the implementation of these projects will reduce water consumption by more than half at the refinery.
Zero-liquid discharge is a water treatment process in which all wastewater is purified and recycled, leaving zero discharge at the end of the treatment cycle.
Reverse osmosis is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to separate ions, unwanted molecules and larger particles from drinking water.
Shahin-Shahr County's greywater will be treated and transferred to the refinery soon.
Located in arid regions of Iran with minimal annual precipitation, Isfahan Province has been struggling with drought for seven years.
Water flow into Zayandehroud Dam was 1.2 billion cubic meters in 2017, which has now declined to 400 million cubic meters.
Of the total flow, 320 mcm are used for drinking purposes and the rest for industries. Due to the drastic decline in precipitation, industries have to reduce water consumption by at least 25%.
Tapping into non-conventional resources (drainage water, water containing toxic elements, sediments and treated or untreated wastewater effluent) has become expedient to help reduce the gap between water supply and demand.
Close to 4.3 billion cubic meters of effluent are produced in the country annually, of which less than 1 bcm are treated in 232 treatment plants.
It is reported that 3.3 bcm of sewage go to waste (either channeled into rivers or penetrates into the ground) because of the lack of wastewater infrastructure.
Reducing Mazut
The refinery is also making efforts to reduce the amount of sulfur in mazut and gradually reduce the production of this eco-unfriendly fuel by converting it into other products.
Mazut is among highly polluting, low quality fuel oil used in power plants and factories. The main type of bunker oil for ships is heavy mazut, derived as a residue from crude oil distillation.
Established in 1979, the refinery produces 25% of the country’s petroleum products, including 16 million liters of Euro-4 diesel, 8 million liters of Euro-4 and 12 million liters of Euro-5 gasoline per day.
The company has succeeded in removing aromatic compounds, sulfur and benzene from AW-406 solvent and converting it to ++AW-406 solvent.
Isfahan’s refinery is the main supplier of feedstock to Sepahan Oil Company, Isfahan Petrochemical Plant, Arak Petrochemical Plant, Jey Oil Refining Company and Iran Chemical Industries Company.
Crude oil needed by the refinery comes from Maroun Oilfield in Khuzestan Province via a 430-km pipeline.
