In line with policies to shoulder its corporate social responsibility (CSR), the Oil Ministry is undertaking projects worth $600 million in western and southern oil-rich provinces, the oil minister said.
“The oil industry is committed to fulfilling all its social obligations and will do its best to allocate adequate budget to such plans,” Javad Owji was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
Giving a breakdown on ongoing CSR projects, he noted that the industry has invested $175 million in Khuzestan’s water and wastewater initiatives.
“The industry has spent about $200 million to curb pollutants in hydrocarbon fields of Khuzestan, Bushehr and Ilam provinces over the last three years,” he added.
Referring to other plans, he added that the construction of residential complexes, schools, clinics and recreational facilities, in addition to expanding green spaces in underprivileged regions, namely Ramshir, Masjed Soleiman and Ramhormoz, is among other CSR projects.
Petrochemical plants have also done their fair share of curbing emission in southern regions.
According to Ali Rabbani, an advisor to the managing director of the National Petrochemical Company, the emissions of petrochemical industry in Iran have decreased by 44% over the past decade.
“Petrochemical companies have reduced their pollutants in 10 years from 66% to less than 22%,” he said.
“The reduction in emissions indicates that petrochemical companies have been able to consider corporate social responsibility requirements by complying with environmental standards, in addition to increasing production and efficiency.”
The official noted that by accelerating this process, the highest level of production is expected with the least pollution in the near future.
Effective Measures
Petrochemical plants have taken effective measures to reduce their emissions. As an example, Marjan Petrochemical Company in Asalouyeh Port along the Persian Gulf coastline has recently acquired the knowhow of designing and manufacturing burners of furnaces for methanol production, which help reduce the emission of polluting gases and flaring, and lower fuel consumption.
The use of burners has resulted in a reduction of 103 million cubic meters of fuel consumption. By reducing polluting gases and flaring in the region, it has prevented the annual release of 202,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
Another example is Tabriz Petrochemical Plant in East Azarbaijan Province, which has launched the project to eliminate the volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions from a wastewater treatment unit.
VOC emissions pose a serious environmental problem to petrochemical industries.
The company has also developed a regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) system to collect and dispose emissions from its ABS unit.
RTO is an energy-saving system that oxidizes and decomposes VOCs and odorous emissions discharged from industrial or manufacturing processes at 850°C or higher. It is suitable for the treatment of high concentration gases.
Thermal Oxidation
The system achieves emission destruction through the process of high temperature thermal oxidation, using the proper mix of temperature, time, turbulence and oxygen to convert pollutants into carbon dioxide and water vapor.
VOCs are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids, and include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. They cause eye, nose and throat irritation, headaches and nausea, and also damage the liver, kidney and central nervous system.
What makes RTO the most widely used emission abatement technology is its ability to repurpose the thermal energy generated during operation to reduce operating costs and energy consumption of the system.
As part of the drive to protect the environment and curb air pollution in the fossil fuel industry, several petrochemical complexes have been equipped with online pollution control systems.
Unlike traditional lab systems that require experts to be physically present in the factory, online data processing systems enable the Department of Environment to measure and analyze the level of noxious waste, such as nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide and sulfur at any moment from long distance.
CSR, also called sustainable responsible business, is a form of social responsibility integrated into a business model. It aims to embrace responsibility for corporate actions and encourage a positive impact on the environment and stakeholders, including consumers, employees, investors and communities.
