Iran joins green gasoline producers
Iran is producing high-octane gasoline at the oldest oil refinery in the Middle East to join the world club of green gasoline producers.
The production of alkylate gasoline — a type of very highoctane gasoline — restarted in Abadan refinery in southern Iran as of December 24 after a sixyear hiatus, Shana reported.
Iran is currently producing 600,000 to one million liters of alkylate gasoline daily at the refinery and officials predict that the amount would increase to two million liters.
Alkylate gasoline, often referred to as environmental gasoline or green gasoline, does not contain any aromatics or olefins which, among other things, means that carcinogenic emissions are reduced by up to 90 percent.
The gasoline whose octane number stand at 96 also helps reduce nitrogen oxide emissions and lessens its contribution to ground-level ozone. Alkylate gasoline contains no ethanol at all, not even the 5-10 percent that commercial gasoline contains.comparing alkylate and Euro-4 quality gasoline, Euro-4 and premium gas have octane ratings of 91 and 95 respectively.
Alkylate gasoline also has a much longer shelf-life than commercial gasoline and the regular gasoline such as 95 octane gasoline, for example, starts to change after just three months, while alkylate gasoline can be stored for several years.
Alkylation technology is an advanced sulfuric acid alkylation process that operates at significantly lower temperatures than conventional technology — below 0°C.
Octane rating or octane number is a standard measure of the performance of an engine or aviation fuel. In simple terms, higher octane number indicates higher quality of gasoline.
When the first phase of Persian Gulf Star Refinery was inaugurated by President Hassan Rouhani on April 30, 2017, Iran said it is self-sufficient in gasoline production.
“By inaugurating the first phase of this refinery an old dream came true. We are selfsufficient in gasoline production and in the near future we will be able to export,” Rouhani said in the inaugural ceremony of the first phase.