There is a fine balance between rapid economic growth and preserving the environmental status quo. With greater growth come new opportunities for the advancement of society; yet, without preserving the environment and reversing the negative impact of industrial growth, companies may contribute to unwanted changes within the climate that can eventually undermine the global economy. With expanding refining capacity and increased industrial development of the sector, it is very important for companies working within the field to be cognizant of the environmental impact their activities might have. Several speakers at the 1st Iran Oil Refining Forum also addressed this issue. The oil industry has a number of environmental impacts that need to be taken into consideration. Refining activities can also impact air and water supplies as well as help increase the globe’s temperature. Overall, the production of various products in order to meet the demands of the world population has certainly helped bring about environmental degradation.

Parinaz Rahimzadeh, Senior Environment Expert at Chagalesh Consultant Engineering Company, Iran

Parinaz Rahimzadeh, Senior Environment Expert at Chegalesh Consultant Engineering Company, Iran highlighted the major environmental challenges brought about by the refining sector. The need for formulating a broader concept of the environment, led the United Nations Environmental Program to put forward a document entitled environmental impact assessment (EIA) in order to examine the developmental projects in 1987. Such a document was in line with other initiatives aimed at ensuring sustainable economic development. Rahimzadeh explained the value of EIA as an economic management tool and the important role it plays in studying the environmental impact of projects being implemented throughout the country. EIA was ratified in Iran in 1994 and has since been used in order to asses the values of projects.

The refinery sector is "among the industries most likely to impose considerable environmental impacts, mandating EIA at all scales of production." The process is divided into two phases with one examining the construction phase and the other examining the utilization or operational phase. The different mechanisms used in the refining process range from distillation, waste recycling, conversion, and treatment. The environmental impacts of such processes also vary from water pollution to huge amounts of solid waste created. The wastes produced are highly toxic with ‘high concentrations of oils, acids and heavy metals causing intensive water and soil pollution." This also brings about incremental degradation of the ecosystem, Rahimzadeh mentioned. These challenges pose a great threat when the refining activities are located close to water bodies or other living ecosystems. The speaker delineated a number of potential negative byproducts of the degradation of ecosystems, including the death of birds, damage to fishery activities, and potential risk to humans. She also mentioned a number of techniques used to overcome the negative impact of the environmental fall out. From water pollution control methods, including waste water management and the re-use of water made possible at waste water treatment facilities.

Rahimzadeh also discussed the different initiatives taken by Iran in order to meet the environmental challenges of developing industries. In 2004, the Iranian Parliament passed the Waste Management Bill which made it mandatory for industries to establish waste management systems. She provided an optimistic note on the ability of overcoming the environmental fall out of refining expansion. Yet, she also mentioned that many of the environmental impacts are "irreversible" and "irreparable." Thus, regulations and laws should be enforced vigorously in order to prevent the negative future impact of these advances.

These trends have created a situation in which there has been a range of activities in terms of establishing new refineries. In this light, there is also a drive to evaluate and control CO2 emission rates being emitted form refineries. As Masri points out, "for any individual refining unit, it is necessary to estimate the output on the basis of a given process configuration and crude slate and also calculate total energy consumptions and CO2 emissions." Refineries produce greenhouse gases through the combustion of fuels in process heating systems. There are numerous sources of CO2 emissions. Such factors range from heaters and boilers, catalytic reforming unit regenerators and flares. Masri also discussed the technical factors affecting CO2 emissions such as "the crude oil’s weight (API) and the degree of cracking, determined by the product yield." The end product also determines the rate of CO2 emissions with light products, such as gasoline and diesel, requiring higher processing and more CO2 emissions. The amount of CO2 released when fossil fuels are burned is dependent on the carbon content. The entire refining process requires burning various fuels. The amount of CO2 formed from the fuel gas combustion in different equipment in a refinery will vary. It can be obtained from the combustion reactions.

There are also specific procedures for evaluating CO2 emissions. These processes range from emissions monitoring and reporting, performance monitoring, and CO2 emissions evaluation. Refinery CO2 emissions mainly come from heaters, boilers and gas turbine assets. Reducing emissions from a refinery involves, improving operational activities, reducing carbon concentration in fuel gas, and improving techniques such as heat recovery. Moreover, Masri pointed out to investments that can be made in the future which can also help reduce CO2 emissions. Taking such actions will lead to a situation where there will be reduced CO2 emissions and refineries will take such environmental regulations into account.