Diesel production complying with Euro-5 standards at the Isfahan Oil Refining Company has increased by 300% to reach 20 million liters per day, the oil minister said.
“Work on a new diesel treatment unit has completed and the refinery’s Euro-5 diesel production capacity has risen by 15 ml/d,” Javad Owji was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news service.
Costing $600 million, the development project has also reduced sulfur content in diesel from 6,000 parts per million to less than 10 ppm, he added.
Located in central Isfahan Province, the company can now produce 20 million liters of Euro-5 diesel per day, marking a fivefold rise compared to a year ago.
Giving a breakdown, the oil minister noted that the project entailed the construction of a diesel treatment unit and the installation of utility and offsite units, in addition to setting up fuel storage tanks with a capacity of 100,000 liters of diesel per day.
“Contracts worth $100 billion have been concluded with local firms and banks over the last 12 months to help expand oil and gas refining capacities of old refineries, such as Abadan, Tehran and Isfahan,” he said, adding that the National Iranian Oil Company needs to attract at least $150 billion to carry out other related initiatives, otherwise the company’s production capacity will dwindle.
Referring to ongoing schemes, Owji said the plan to reduce sulfur content in vacuum distillation residue – the end product of crude oil distillation, including high molecular weight PAH, asphaltenic components and waxes – has also registered 50% progress and is expected to become operational in three years at an estimated cost of $1 billion.
According to Morteza Ebrahimi, managing director of Isfahan Oil Refining Company, IORC has launched a sulfur granulation unit with a daily capacity of 300 tons in 2020, which is in line with policies to reduce environmental pollution and upgrade the quality of refined products.
“Both plans are aimed at minimizing the environmental impact of sulfur production and curbing greenhouse gas emissions,” Ebrahimi said.
Sulfur is used mainly to produce sulfuric acid, an important chemical widely used in the fertilizer, rubber, steel manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries.
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.
Supplier of Feedstock
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.
As per its environmental commitments, the refinery is making efforts to reduce the amount of sulfur in mazut and gradually reduce the production of this eco-unfriendly fuel by converting it to other products.
Mazut is among highly polluting and 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.
According to the official, the company's wastewater treatment unit has been launched to help meet the refinery’s water requirements.
"The plant, with a capacity of 750 cubic meters per hour, cost $8 million and was built in two years," he said.
The managing director said the refinery buys wastewater from towns like Shahin-Shahr in the vicinity of the company.
“The municipal wastewater is piped to the refinery and reused after treatment in the new plant,” he said.
Ebrahimi had earlier warned that the refinery would have to either reduce or stop production, if the worsening water crisis at the refinery was not resolved.
The huge refinery consumes 1,000 cubic meters of water per hour, of which 700 cubic meters are recycled and reused.
Water Scarcity
The IORC chief noted that the company processes 375,000 barrels of crude per day, but cannot be sustained for long unless the refining units have sufficient access to water.
Located in an arid region of Iran with minimal precipitation, Isfahan Province has been struggling with drought for the past seven years.
Ebrahimi said 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," he said, adding that due to the drastic decline in precipitation, industries have to reduce water consumption by at least 25%.
Tapping into non-conventional resources has become expedient to help reduce the gap between water supply and demand.
