TEHRAN, Iran, Dec.23
Trend:
Tehran's air pollution is mostly caused by low-quality fuel and defective catalyst system in vehicles, said an academic board member of Shahid Beheshti University.
Mohammad Ali Ehteram discussed the causes of Tehran air pollution in an interview with Trend.
"Although some believe that the industries around Tehran causes the air pollution, these industries has little share in pollution, as 80 percent of pollutant is caused by vehicles," Ali Ehteram said adding that locating industries outside Tehran is a temporary solution to solve the problem, and the main issue is fuel quality for vehicles.
"Unfortunately, the oil ministry and other organizations reports on the level of air pollution do not indicate the secondary pollutants, while the floating particles are mainly caused by fuels and high aromatic fuel consumption by cars," the member of the university academic board said.
"In previous years, gasoline was produced by petrochemicals that caused pollution, so the refineries are also responsible. Thus, the main cause of the pollution is low-quality gasoline. However, while the level of pollution can be forecasted by weather satellites in advance, the decision to close schools is often announced too late," Ali Ehteram added.
"Unfortunately, control of the autos is not at appropriate level; the best way to address the issue is gas consumption as auto fuel and increase of the fuel quality. In most cases, catalyst in cars are defective, while it should reduce the air pollution by cars, adjust the fuel consumption and prevent toxic gases. In this regard, transforming toxic gases HC, CO, NOX to N2, CO2 and H20 is an important task," he said.
Ali Ehteram said Sharif University has tested the cars catalysts few years ago, but the results showed that the level of pollutant in cars at auto factories were different from the pollutant in the city and that domestic cars at factories had higher quality.
"This shows that auto testing in real conditions was not performed in the city and the reports by factories about the level of pollution caused by cars are not correct," he said.