A diesel hydrotreating unit started operating at the Bandar Abbas Oil Refinery in Hormozgan Province to help improve the quality of products in compliance with Euro 4 standard, said the refinery’s managing director.
The unit will reduce sulfur, nitrogen, and aromatic content to acceptable levels and allow refining of diesel in a conventional refinery catalytic cracker or hydrocracker, Hashem Namvar was quoted as saying by Shana, the Oil Ministry’s official news agency.
“After launching the HT unit, sulfur content in diesel has been reduced from 10,000 milligram per kilogram, to less than 50 mg/kg, and total diesel production in the southern refinery, which meets Euro 4 standard, has reached 15 million liters/day,” he said.
The unit helps eliminate harmful environmental effects of sulfur particles in the air. It is a part of the plan to promote environmentally-friendly fuel and improve quality and quantity in the major oil refinery.
Reducing emissions, improving productivity and optimizing energy consumption are among plans the government is concentrating on in recent years as the country grapples with worsening air pollution in major urban areas.
As part of the plan, sulfur recovery unit of the refinery will come on stream within two months, Namvar noted.
Recovery of Pure Sulfur
Sulfur recovery units use a combustion and catalytic process to recover a pure form of sulfur from acid gas streams containing hydrogen sulfide.
“The sulfur extracted from manufactured products is delivered as feed to the granulation unit,” he added. When the sulfur recovery unit becomes operational, the amount of sulfur produced in the refinery will increase from the current 120 tons per day to 250 tons/day”.
Bandar Abbas Oil Refinery is one of the largest in the Middle East with refining capacity of 300,000 bpd. The feed for the refinery is heavy crude plus condensates. The refinery caters largely to domestic demand and some of its output is exported.
It produces oil byproducts such as liquid gas, lead-free premium gasoline, jet fuel, white oil, variety of solvents, diesel, raw material for grease, fuel oil, bitumen precaution, different kinds of petroleum, kerosene, asphalt and sulfur.
The refinery off the Persian Gulf is a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company and accounts for an estimated 18% of the total petroleum products made in Iran, including liquefied gas, kerosene, jet fuel, diesel and mazut.
