High-Octane Gasoline Production Resumes at Abadan Refinery

The production of alkylate gasoline, a type of very high-octane gasoline, restarted in Abadan refining complex as of December 24 after a six-year hiatus, the head of the refinery’s board of directors said.

“The complex is now producing 550,000 liters of high-octane gasoline per day with the help of its alkylation unit that was decommissioned six years ago due to technical problems,” Asghar Ramezani was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency on Tuesday.

Alkylate gasoline, often referred to as environmental gasoline, does not contain any aromatics or olefins which, among other things, means that carcinogenic emissions are reduced by up to 90%.

According to the official, the gasoline whose octane number stand at 96 also helps reduce nitrogen oxide emissions and lessens its contribution to ground-level ozone. Alkylate gasoline contains no ethanol at all, not even the 5-10% that commercial gasoline contains.

Octane rating or octane number is a standard measure of the performance of an engine or aviation fuel. In simple terms, higher octane number indicates higher quality of gasoline.

Comparing alkylate and Euro-4 quality gasoline, Ramezani said Euro-4 and premium gas have octane ratings of 91 and 95 respectively.

“Alkylate gasoline also has a much longer shelf-life than commercial gasoline,” he said, adding that regular gasoline such as 95 octane gasoline, for example, starts to change after just three months, while alkylate gasoline can be stored for several years.

Alkylation technology is an advanced sulfuric acid alkylation process that operates at significantly lower temperatures than conventional technology—below 0°C.