Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 24
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Some 700 metric tons of sulfur are detached from gasoline and diesel in Iran's refineries per day.
Iran's deputy oil minister Emad Hosseini said the figure is projected to be increased to 1500 metric tons in the next Iranian fiscal year, staring on March 21, Iran's IRNA news agency reported on Feb. 24.
He made the remarks on the sidelines of the 14th International Environmental Exhibition in Tehran.
Desulfurization plays a key role in reducing air pollution, he noted.
At present, gasoline meeting euro-4 standards is being supplied in all big cities of the country, he said.
In spite of a huge share of gas in Iran's energy basket, Iran is one of most air-polluted countries in the world.
Tehran and other major Iranian cities have been hit by air pollution several times over the past months and old cars count for a major portion of the pollution.
Iranian First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri has said that 30 million Iranians are affected by air pollution.
Iran produced non-standard gasoline in petrochemical plants during 2009 to 2014 after a plunge in gasoline imports.
Before 2009, Iran was importing 40 percent of its gasoline demands. Because of the US imposed sanctions on selling gasoline to Iran to persuade the Islamic Republic to curb its sensitive nuclear activities, Iran started producing non-standard gasoline in petrochemical plants.
Another factor for pollution is that most of Iran's vehicles are not standard. For instance, the vice-president of Tehran Traffic & Transportation Organization Hojjatollah Behrouz said in January that there are one million non-standard autos (25 percent of total autos), alongside 1.5 million non-standard motorcycles in Tehran.
Edited by CN