International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 12 (2013) 460–471 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijggc What is energy efficiency and emission reduction potential in the Iranian petrochemical industry? A. Mohammadi a , M. Soltanieh b,∗ , M. Abbaspour c , F. Atabi d a Graduate School of Energy and Environment, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran b Department of Chemical Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran c Environmental Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran d Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Energy and Environment, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran article info Article history: Received 22 October 2011 Received in revised form 4 May 2012 Accepted 22 June 2012 Available online 3 January 2013 Keywords: Petrochemicals Energy efficiency Capital expenditure Clean development mechanism Energy price-deregulation abstract In this study, the prospects of energy efficiency potential, clean development mechanism (CDM) and carbon income up to and beyond 2012 are investigated in the petrochemical industries of Iran as a major oil-producing country. This paper is to address four questions of: (1) the GHGs emission in Iranian petrochemical complexes, (2) the most energy-consuming processes, (3) units with the highest energy efficiency potentials and (4) potentials of CDM or similar carbon projects based on post-2012 scenarios. The petrochemical processes are investigated in two categories of non-polymeric and polymeric produc- tions. Based on capital expenditure, economic saving, simple payback period, CO 2 equivalent emissions, and the level of technology transfer, the attractiveness of energy efficiency measures is assessed and CDM potentials are investigated. Meanwhile, the impact of the recently deregulation of national energy- prices is examined. The results reveal that the three main non-polymeric (ammonia, urea and methanol) processes in Iran offer the most opportunity for energy efficiency improvement and carbon-market poten- tials followed by the polymeric processes in units with outdated technology. The studied petrochemical units indicate over 2.53 million tons CO 2 -eq/year potential reduction in GHGs emission and natural gas conservation of 1100 million-m 3 /year. Nonetheless, more detailed energy-auditing for the entire Iranian petrochemicals is required for a comprehensive analysis. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The petrochemical industry is responsible for 70% of the chemi- cal industry’s expenditures on fuels and 40% of the expenditures on electricity (Neelis et al., 2008). The primary petrochemicals could be divided into non-polymeric (ammonia, urea, methanol, etc.) and polymeric products. The two polymeric classes are olefins (ethyl- ene, propylene and butadiene) and aromatics (benzene, toluene and xylenes). Oil refineries produce olefins and aromatics by fluid catalytic cracking of petroleum fractions. Chemical plants produce olefins by steam cracking of natural gas liquids like ethane and propane. Aromatics are produced by catalytic reforming of naphtha. Olefins and aromatics are the building blocks of end-use processes for a wide range of materials such as solvents, detergents, and adhesives. Olefins are the basis for polymers and oligomers used in plastics, resins, fibers, elastomers, lubricants, and gels (Matar and Hatch, 2000). ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 21 6616 5417; fax: +98 21 6602 2853. E-mail address: msoltanieh@sharif.edu (M. Soltanieh). The largest petrochemical industries are located in the USA and Western Europe; however, major growth in new production capacity is in the Middle East and Asia including Iran (Cefic, 2011). The issue of energy efficiency and GHGs emission reduction are amongst the top priorities in this industry. GHGs emission in petrochemicals was examined by various researches including Gielen et al. (2002) who worked on CO 2 emission reduction for Japanese petrochemicals. They suggested a number of options for emission reduction including the intro- duction of biomass feed stocks, new catalytic production processes and changes in waste handling that could reduce the emissions by 7.7%. The use of flue gas for CO 2 enhanced oil recovery in the Middle East was explored by Iijima and Kamijo (2003). The study results showed that CO 2 recovery and compression costs from boilers are 16 to 22 US$/ton, which is comparable to the CO 2 trading price in Europe. Freed et al. (2005) analyzed non-energy uses of fossil fuels as petrochemical feed-stocks in the USA and their GHG emissions. Neelis et al. (2007) approximated the theoretical energy saving potentials for the petrochemical industry using energy balance in 68 key processes in Western Europe. It recommended for more detailed analysis by taking into account thermodynamic, economic and practical considerations to identify technical and economic 1750-5836/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2012.06.014