Shiraz Petrochemical Company in Fars Province is one of the frontrunners in implementing clean development mechanism (CDM) projects to reduce gas emissions, the managing director of the company said.
“Overseen by the CDM Executive Board under the Kyoto Protocol, the initiatives have been certified by the United Nations,” Ahmadreza Heydarnia was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news portal Shana.
The company, which obtained the CDM license in 2017, is committed to the responsible and sustainable development of its ventures, he added, noting that protecting the environment is a compulsion, not a choice.
Safeguarding the environment is key to long-term sustainable petrochemical development and as long as petrochemical plans are implemented without prioritizing the protection and conservation of environment, future generations will be deprived of the potential benefits of the profitable sector.
“Recycling wastewater, tapping into renewable sources of energy, reducing air pollution and expansion of the plant’s green space have long been on our agenda as the achievement of sustainable development requires a balanced integration of environmental, economic and social objectives, taking into account the needs and concerns of not only present but also future generations,” he said.
Heydarnia noted that over the last half a century, Shiraz Petrochemical Complex has always been concerned about observing environment protocols set by the Department of Environment to preserve its surrounding ecosystem.
“The plant has 155 hectares of green space that is 10 times more than the global norm,” he said.
“Tapping into unconventional water resources, including treated wastewater, has helped the petrochemical sector to reduce water consumption by at least 1 million liters per day. The firm has its own landfill for the disposal of chemical waste.”
Greenhouses Gases
The company has received certification for the successful implementation of emission-reduction from the United Nations that confirms it has reduced greenhouses gases by as much as 780,000 tons per annum.
CDM is part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. As the largest regulatory project-based mechanism, CDM offers the public and private sector in high-income nations the opportunity to purchase carbon credits from projects in low or middle-income nations. CDM is involved in setting standards and verifying projects.
The company has also been awarded Iran’s green industry award, given annually by DOE.
According to Heydarnia, executive operations for a melamine crystal production unit at Shiraz Petrochemical Company in Fars Province will start later this year.
“The 40,000-ton unit will be built to complete the value chain of urea at the company,” he said, adding that the company is planning more development projects to increase its output as well as exports.
Shiraz Petrochemical Company, the first fertilizer production facility of Iran, was founded in 1959.
The major feedstock for the operating plants are natural gas, limestone and salt. The natural gas source is from the main cross-country pipeline, while the limestone and salt are extracted from the adjacent mines.
The initial goal of the company was to meet the country’s fertilizer needs, but it now produces a vast variety of chemicals and petrochemicals. It has a nominal production capacity of about 3.2 million tons per year and is now one of the major urea producers in the country.
Urea is mainly used as fertilizer in the agriculture sector and as raw materials in other industries.
Urea Production
The annual urea production is about 7.5 million tons in Iran, around half of which is sold domestically and the surplus is exported.
In addition to producing urea fertilizer, the company has the ability to produce and export urea ammonium nitrate with better quality and performance than urea fertilizer.
Produced by combining urea, nitric acid and ammonia, UAN is a liquid fertilizer product with a nitrogen content of 28-32%. UAN can be applied more uniformly than non-liquid forms of fertilizer.
Iran is self-sufficient in urea production. In two years, urea output is expected to reach 15 million tons per annum from 7.5 million tons now after new plants open.
About 150 million tons of urea fertilizer are used in the world annually, with the figure reaching 2 million tons in Iran.
Urea fertilizer is widely used in Iran and worldwide as a nitrogen supply for a group of plants, including wheat, barley, sunflower and sugarbeet.
One of the main exports of Iranian petrochemical companies to countries such as India and Brazil is the urea fertilizer. The annual production of this fertilizer in Iran is 7.5 million tons, of which 4.5 million tons are exported.
The global urea market exhibited stable growth during 2015-20. The market is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of around 3% during 2021-26.
