Ilam Gas Refining Company reduced its gas flaring last year (March 2022-23) by 33% compared to the previous year, the managing director of the refinery said.
Referring to the major repair and maintenance programs at the refinery last year, Ruhollah Nourian said the discharge and recharging of catalysts in the sulfur recovery units was carried out according to the operational plan, which helped increase efficiency and reduced the release of sulfur oxides into the environment, the Oil Ministry’s news service Shana reported.
According to the official, the refinery’s greenhouse gas emissions declined by 9% last year compared to the preceding year.
“Another environmental measure of the company last year was the launch of a project to treat and reuse wastewater produced at the refinery,” he said.
“The project has helped use 400,000 liters per day of reclaimed water from the refinery's wastewater treatment plant for green spaces and the firefighting network. The measure has prevented the withdrawal of water from groundwater sources.”
The project became operational in a short period of five months to address water shortage in the region and help reduce water extraction from groundwater resources.
The project also helped prevent industrial effluents from entering rivers and groundwater resources.
The insufficient treatment of wastewater and sludge spreads disease and is a driver of antimicrobial resistance. Demand for wastewater as a reliable source of water and nutrients for agriculture is growing in response to population growth, urbanization, increasing water scarcity and the effects of climate change.
Ilam Gas Refinery is the only supplier of gas in western Iran and provides feedstock to Ilam Petrochemical Company.
Annually, 130,000 tons of ethane, 230,000 tons of liquefied natural gas, 70,000 tons of sulfur and 1,350,000 barrels of gas condensate are produced in the complex.
Programs are underway to increase the volume of all products at the refinery by 2025.
The construction of the second phase of the refinery is expected to begin soon to help increase feedstock from the current 6.8 million cubic meters to 10.2 mcm for increasing the production of various byproducts.
With the completion of the development project, the refinery's products, including natural gas for urban and industrial use, sulfur, ethane, gas condensate and liquefied petroleum gas, will increase by 1.5 times.
The sulfur produced in the refinery with a purity of 99.98% is one of the purest and highest quality sulfur produced in the country.
