With the aim of producing Euro-5 diesel in Shiraz refinery, the company has recently conducted negotiations to sign an agreement with a multinational company, Honeywell UOP, over the purchase of much-needed know-how and licenses for producing high quality diesel, Shiraz refinery's managing director said.
"Upon receiving the license, the refinery's diesel output at 26,000 barrels per day will meet Euro-5 international standards," Rahim Shamseddini was also quoted as saying by Shana on Sunday.
Honeywell UOP, formerly known as UOP LLC, is a multinational company developing and delivering technology to the petroleum refining, gas processing, petrochemical production and major manufacturing industries.
According to the official, the technology will help the company design a special unit to minimize sulfur compounds to comply with global standards, which in turn will help fight the menace of air pollution.
"The technical know-how will also increase the diesel cetane number between 2 and 5 units to help diesel engines operate better," Shamseddini said.
Cetane number is an indicator of the combustion speed of diesel fuel and compression needed for ignition. It is an inverse of the similar octane rating for gasoline.
The CN is an important factor in determining the quality of diesel fuel. Generally, diesel engines operate well with a CN of 48 to 50. Fuels with lower cetane number have longer ignition delays, providing more time for the fuel combustion process to be completed. Hence, higher speed diesel engines operate more effectively with higher cetane number fuels.
Referring to the high quantity of sulfur in the refinery's diesel, the official noted that the current quantity stands at 6,000 parts per million, but it will reduce to as low as 10 PPM with the help of Honeywell's technology.
Sulfur is a natural component that is present in gasoline and diesel, unless removed. Reducing the sulfur content in gasoline enables advanced emission controls and reduces air pollution.
----- Oil Derivatives Export
According to Alireza Rajabpour, deputy for exports and imports at the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, more than $9.1 million worth of oil derivatives like diesel, kerosene, jet fuel and liquefied natural gas, including LNG and LPG, have been transferred to Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Armenia via land borders by tanker trucks over the last four years.
Highlighting NIOPDC's policy to reduce export costs, he said that with regard to the pipelines and other infrastructure such as oil storage facilitates, the closer the storage units to border areas, the lower will be the export rate, which in turn will help curb fuel smuggling.
"Iran has become an exporter of oil byproducts after years of import," he said, adding that the export of liquefied petroleum gas has risen to between 1,000 and 1,500 tons a day.
According to Rajabpour, the annual export of crude oil byproducts is expected to increase from 200,000 bpd to 600,000 barrels daily by March.
