Turkmenistan aims the strategy at achieving the social, economic and environmental development goals, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing resilience to climate change impacts. The country is designing and implementing programmes to develop low-emission production. Doctor of Technical Sciences Allaberdy Ilyasov commented on these issues in an interview with CentralAsia.news.
An important area is power plant operation. In doing this it is necessary to provide power plants with energy. One of the options is associated gas. Given the required composition of raw materials, this method is highly effective and is in great demand on a global scale. Global companies have launched the production of gas turbine and piston power units. These units ensure the full functioning of a power plant with the option of waste heat recovery.
Similar technologies are being widely introduced into the petrochemical industry. However, the feasibility and high profitability of the scheme can only be determined by the close location of the power plant to the field or processing plant. This is very relevant for the Seydi oil refinery and the Turkmenbashi oil refineries, since instead of being flared after cleaning, associated petroleum gas can be redirected to nearby power plants.
Currently, normal butane is separated from associated petroleum gas and oxidized to produce maleic anhydride at oil and gas refineries across the world. It is a multifunctional basic chemical that is used in the chemical, pharmaceutical and agricultural industries and to produce food products, household cleaners and fuel and oil additives and stabilizers.
Maleic anhydride is not yet produced in Turkmenistan; currently imports cover the needs completely. However, the country has huge reserves of raw materials to produce maleic anhydride. This petroleum product can not only facilitate import substitution, but also, given the huge demand in the world market, turn Turkmenistan into one of the world’s largest exporters of this product.
