...

Iran leads world in use of bi-fuel vehicles

Oil&Gas Materials 3 July 2015 12:01 (UTC +04:00)
Iran with above 3 million duel fuel vehicles ranks first in the world
Iran leads world in use of bi-fuel vehicles

Baku, Azerbaijan, July 3

By Dalga Khatinoglu - Trend:

Iran with above 3 million duel fuel vehicles ranks first in the world.

"It appears that Iran is the world's largest over India, Pakistan, Brazil and Argentina with over 3 million duel fuel vehicles with over 2000 refueling stations," the Executive Director at Asian Clean Fuels Association Clarence Woo told Trend July 3.

According to Iran's official statistics, the country consumes about 69 million liters of gasoline per day, while the daily compressed natural gas (CNG) consumption level is about 19 to 20 million cubic meters. Iran uses about 53 million liters per day of gas-oil in transportation sector as well.

Woo says, technologically, there is little obstacles in using CNG, and in Iran, using CNG to replace gasoline is mainly a situation of political will, and of course the investment of a total infrastructure to have enough CNG stations for refueling vehicles.

"CNG is easy to distribute and its pricing can be lower than gasoline, especially with the latest price increases in gasoline. The problem is how the refineries aim to sell its gasoline production if all its cars use CNG. It could look at the export market, but it is also dependent on the gasoline trading market. The Middle East is becoming long on gasoline, and also the pricing in the international market for different grades of gasoline will have an impact to the refineries. This has to be considered as a total solution", he said.

Pollution

Iran ranks seventh in global CO2 production.

According to World Bank statistics, Iran produced above 0.6 gigatons of CO2 in 2012, about 15 percent more than 2008, while the global figure was 32.3 Gt in 2012.

As statistics indicate, the pollution caused by vehicles is huge and even Iranian officials say vehicles create 40-70 percent of urban pollution.

Woo says vehicle pollution can cause as much as 90 percent of the pollution in a city.

"Although CNG can help reduce the pollution level, other ways can be used to improve the gasoline emissions. For example, for Iran to legislate lower benzene limits to 1percent, olefins and aromatics and to be reduced, and RVP (Reid Vapor Pressure) etc can also help. If the gasoline specs can be upgraded to Euro 4 or 5 standards, then the emissions from gasoline and CNG may be comparable. With gasoline having a good heat value, a higher octane grade can help reduce fuel consumption by another 2 to 4%," he said.

Iran currently produces 18 million liters per day (ML/d) as well as imports 6 ML/d of Euro-4 gasoline and the rest is below Euro-4 standards.

Edited by CN

Dalga Khatinoglu is an expert on Iran's energy sector, head of Trend Agency's Iran news service
Follow him on @dalgakhatinoglu

Latest

Latest