Trend Iran News Service head Dalga Khatinoglu/
Iran's Automakers Association has issued a warning about newly produced gasoline with 35 per cent methanol, saying this toxic material can make people blind and damage their lungs, as well as cause technical damage to vehicles.
After halting the import of some catalysts needed for producing gasoline in 2010 because of sanctions, Iranian refineries are using harmful and dangerous materials in producing the product, such as lead and Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether (MTBE) to improve the octane level.
Iran's produces 64 million litres of gasoline per day and reportedly uses 1.5 to 2 million MTBE which has a cancer threat in producing the product.
Iranian officials recently have said that the country is preparing to use alcohol such as ethanol and methanol instead of MTBE in the production of gasoline.
The Iranian oil minister announced on November 14, 2012 that the production line of new generated gasoline with 35 per cent methanol has been commissioned and is planned to produce up to seven million litres of Euro 5 gasoline per day.
His statement came while according to the Euro 5 standard, mixing only ethanol (not methanol) to gasoline by below five per cent is allowed. Also, the sulphur content of Euro 5 gasoline should be a maximum 10 ppm, but according to some Iranian media outlets' reports, Iranian made gasoline has 180 to 1000 ppm sulphur content.
After the U.S. banned foreign companies from supplying gasoline to Iran in 2010, Iran which had relied on 40 per cent of its 64 million litre daily gasoline consumption on imports, was faced with a challenge and started producing gasoline in some petrochemical plants using dangerous materials such as lead and MTBE.
During last two years, some Iranian cities air pollution reached an alarming level causing people to take tens of days off.
Some Iranian officials warned last year that cities air pollution levels had reached an alert-level point.
Hassan Aghajani deputy health minister announced in December that air pollution in Tehran caused the deaths of 4460 people during last solar year which ended on 2012 March 19. He said that each year government looses about $8 billion due to air pollution.
According to the IRNA report, Mohammad Hadi Heidarzadeh, a Tehran municipal official said in the summer that about 45, 000 Tehran residents have died because of air pollution in the country. He said about 1.650 million ton of various air emissions enter Tehran air per year.
According to experts and unnamed officials' statements published in an Alef report, 70 per cent of Tehran's air pollution has been caused by non-standard fuels.