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Iran inks agreement with UNDP to produce biodiesel

Business Materials 16 March 2014 14:28 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, March 16

By Fatih Karimov - Trend:

Iran's Transportation and Fuel Management Headquarters has signed an agreement with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for producing biodiesel in the country, the Mehr News Agency reported on March 16.

The two sides signed a five-year agreement to replace gasoline with biodiesel as a clean fuel, the report added.

Iran has been planning to replace gasoline with clean fuels, such as CNG, LPG, and biodiesel to reduce air and environment pollution.

Iran is said to need between 70 and 80 biodiesel production plants, and the country's first biodiesel bus has been jointly designed by the Iran Biodiesel and Asia Pishro Diesel companies.

Biodiesel can be produced using vegetable oils, animal fat, or recycled restaurant grease for use in diesel vehicles.

Biodiesel's physical properties are similar to those of petroleum diesel, but it is a cleaner-burning alternative. Using biodiesel in place of petroleum diesel reduces emissions.

Biodiesel can be used in its pure form or blended with petroleum diesel.
Since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (started in March 2013), there have been only four healthy days in Tehran, the governor of Tehran province, Hossein Hashemi said, Iranian IRNA news agency reported on Feb. 24.

Hashemi made the remarks at the first meeting of the Tehran province administrative council, where various problems of the province were discussed.

It should be noted that in last Iranian calendar year Tehran experienced 147 days in which air quality was substandard based on the PSI (Pollutant Standards Index), according to Iranian Parliament's Environment Committee Head, Mohammadreza Tabesh.

Hossein Hashemi said air pollution remains a serious issue for the capital city, and added that mostly, the pollution continues because people use old cars.
"Currently, there are about 8,600 old taxis in Tehran, as well as about 252,000 old Samand and Pride model cars, the owners of which sometimes use their cars as taxis. And there are 200,000 more cars which work as taxis by phone," he explained.

The air over Iran's capital is amongst the most polluted in the world. Experts say many Iranians suffer serious health problems as a result.

Motor vehicles account for 70 percent of pollution in the Iranian capital. Low quality gasoline and diesel is partially responsible for the problem.

Hashemi further said there are more issues that need direct attention, such as lack of electricity in some of Iran's provinces, as well as pollution of water.

He noted that the country's president Hassan Rouhani gave relevant orders to establish a committee for solving these problems.

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