Salih Najib, a professor at the natural resources department at the University of Sulaimani, drew a parallel with the 1952 Great Smog of London when for five grim, windless days a dark fog shrouded the city, creeping into homes and causing thousands of deaths. At that time, while the United Kingdom exported its high-quality coal to settle World War II debts, its citizens relied on cheap, sulfur-rich coal fueling the devastating smog.
“How many lives are lost in Kurdistan from the toxic haze veiling our cities now?” Najib asked.
Erbil has one of the highest levels of air pollution in Iraq, Deputy Environment Minister Jassim al-Falahi told Rudaw in April. There are several causes, most notably, plumes of smoke from electricity generators and the numerous cars using low-quality fuel that is high in the same compound that smothered London in 1952.
“The biggest problem of all fuels in Kurdistan…is that they are high in sulfur,” Sangar Salih, head of Salahaddin University’s chemistry department, explained to Rudaw English.
Drivers fill their fuel tanks with substandard, sulfur-laden fuel.
“The more sulfur there is in the fuel, the higher the percentage of the gas [sulfur dioxide (SO2)] released,” Salih explained.
The buildup of toxic particulates like SO2 in the atmosphere contribute to urban haze and cause severe cardiovascular and respiratory issues.
Over the past four decades, governments worldwide have been enacting stricter regulations to lower levels of sulfur and other toxic compounds in petroleum products. This trend is driven by the need to minimize air pollution caused by exhaust. Environmental organizations have played a significant role in advocating for these stricter regulations.
International standards typically set sulfur levels not exceeding 50 parts per million (ppm) in diesel.
Iraqi standards recommend that sulfur content levels in diesel gasoline should be below 8,000 ppm, which is already more than two orders of magnitude higher than international standards.
Neighborhood electricity generators, one of the main polluters, use diesel, “but it is not diesel by international standards… This also has high sulfur percentages,” Najib told Rudaw English.
There are nearly 4,000 private electricity generators in the Kurdistan Region, according to a 2021 report by the Kurdistan Region Statistics Office (KRSO).
Najib has studied emissions from generators in Sulaimani and calculated the per capita levels of various harmful gasses.
“Just from generators, each civilian [is exposed to] 265kg of CO2 [carbon dioxide] … and nearly 980 grams of SO2,” he said.
His study found SO2 concentrations in Sulaimani’s air far exceeding World Health Organization guidelines.
Najib recommended placing electricity generators 300 to 500 meters away from residential areas to reduce the concentration of harmful gasses inhaled by people.
.jpg "Rows of outlets emitting smoke from electricity generators on a rooftop in Erbil. Photo: Rudaw/Bilind T. Abdullah")
“Naturally, these gasses will not stay around houses, but when it is released, anyone who is near it will surely get a share of these gasses… If they don't get the 980 grams of SO2, they will get 500 grams of SO2 that they inhale,” he said.
In addition to generators, the fuel burned in cars in the Kurdistan Region is a major source of SO2. Erbil had nearly 60,000 registered cars documented in a 2020 KRSO report but estimates of the number of actual vehicles on the city’s roads are much higher.
The independent US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates an average standard of 10 ppm sulfur content in gasoline.
Gasoline sold in the Kurdistan Region has a sulfur content level of 25,000 to 29,000 ppm, Salih told Rudaw in February, citing numbers from a 2020 study.
“There is a lot of sulfur in gasoline… It does not follow standards,” he said.
Drivers in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region have a choice of three gasoline grades: regular, premium, and super, with octane levels increasing in that order.
Iraqi government standards recommend that regular, premium, and super grade gasoline not exceed sulfur levels of 100, 10, and 10 ppm, respectively. The laxer standards of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) allow no more than 100, 100, and 50 ppm, in the same order.
The gasoline used in the Kurdistan Region does not pass these domestic standards.
A study published by Salih and colleagues in April 2023 found that only 9.1 percent of regular grade gasoline samples taken from Erbil gas stations were up to KRG standards, with premium and super not faring much better at 13.6 and 16.7 percent, respectively. Some samples of the supposed enhanced grades contained nearly 300 ppm sulfur content.
The sulfur in the gasoline is being emitted into the atmosphere.
In a 2011 study, Najib measured emissions of toxic gasses from the exhaust of 812 gasoline and 175 diesel vehicles. “Some cars that I measured released 50,000 ppm [of SO2],” he said.
Poor vehicle maintenance combined with low fuel quality lead to significantly high emission levels.
“The reason is the car engine having problems, not having catalytic converters, bad fuel quality… these are the reasons for this level of emissions,” Najib said.
“If [the vehicle] does not get the oxygen it needs, the burning will be incomplete, some of the fuel will become soot. It will become a black substance called soot or black carbon, and particulate matter will be released,” he added. “The big problem for human life… is soot and particulate matter [PM]. Millions die of it today because this soot has layers, each layer has [a different] chemical compound.”
Gasoline needs to be enhanced by refining at the molecular level, but the Kurdistan Region does not have the necessary facilities, according to Salih.
“They do not do the processing because it requires large refineries,” he explained. Gasoline requires “changing the structure of certain compounds through processes like alkylation, polymerization, and isomerization to increase the octane.”
But in the Kurdistan Region, “they increase the low octane by incorporating certain chemical compounds… But they are poisonous… Compounds like toluene, xylene… each has its harms,” he said.
Xylene exposure, according to the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), can irritate the skin, eyes, nose, and throat, and cause breathing difficulties, lung impairment, and memory issues. Long-term exposure may lead to headaches, dizziness, and nervous system problems, while severe cases are potentially fatal.
Toluene exposure, similar in symptoms to xylene, is linked to birth defects and developmental issues in children, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). High toluene concentrations during pregnancy also raise the risk of spontaneous abortion.
Both toluene and xylenes undergo chemical reactions creating secondary particles that infiltrate the lungs, causing inflammation and worsening respiratory conditions.
Salih explained that if additives are not incorporated in a scientific manner and do not follow international guidelines and standards, premium and super grade gasoline could potentially create greater health risks than regular gasoline.
“There is no difference. You have not decreased the sulfur and other substances… It is still bad. Contrarily, the additives they put in, with environmental and health concerns, it might be much worse,” he said.
The benefits of additives are also short-lived.
“When someone puts gasoline in, it is fine for the first few days, but then it [the engine] starts knocking because they [the additives] vaporize,” Salih said.
When additives are incorporated improperly it poses a direct threat to the lives of people by causing fuel tanks to explode.
“So many of the cases when burning and death happened was because… they add kerosene or [light] naphtha to keep [the gasoline] liquid,” Salih said. “Some of the compounds that are used as additives have high vapor pressure, creating a lot of pressure in the [fuel tank of the] car.”
In spring when nights are cold and days are warmer, gasoline faces the risk of gelling and lower performance at night, while during the day, vapor pressure increases.
Salih explained that some of the additives also contribute to dissolving the plastic in fuel pumps. “The additives they incorporate are very strong solvents… toluene and xylene are very active.”
In early July, Erbil’s civil defense directorate reported faulty fuel pumps sparked fires that burned at least 12 vehicles.
These risks are the result of local gasoline producers' efforts to meet driver demand for smoother rides, better fuel economy, and reduced engine knocking, sacrificing the environment, health safety, and lives for higher octane levels.
Only three refineries in the Kurdistan Region conduct proper reforming processes, a source told Rudaw English on the condition of anonymity, adding that other unlicensed and unregulated refineries merely mix gasoline, light and heavy naphtha, and additives to achieve desired octane ratings, rendering them refineries only by name.
The source emphasized that no legitimate refinery would incorporate additives, and even if they did, they would not admit to it due to its illegality. They added that the public lacks awareness about the differences between properly reformed gasoline and lower-quality versions.
Properly processing gasoline, they explained, significantly reduces harmful substances, such as sulfur, through desulphurization and degassing processes. However, some of these harmful gases are released into the atmosphere through flaring.
Iraqi refineries lack the capacity to produce super grade gasoline. Salih believes that is likely due to the high costs of upgrading facilities and consumers' reluctance to pay higher prices at the pump that enhanced fuels entail.
Groundwater and soil are also contaminated by unregulated refineries, harming crops, animals, and residents.
In April 2019, Erbil Mayor Nabaz Abdulhamid told Rudaw that they had shut down 40 of the 104 refineries listed by the interior and natural resource ministries for not having licenses and failing to follow regulations.
In 2017, Ghalib Muhammad, then head of Sulaimani’s energy committee and a vocal critic of the KRG, claimed that many of these refineries are backed by "influential people and officials."
The presence of these refineries have also affected the local businesses.
Ghafour Bakir, a resident of Tarjan village, 37 kilometers from Erbil, told Rudaw he had to close his eatery due to smoke from numerous nearby refineries choking the air, making eating unappealing for his customers.
“The only thing we get from those refineries is their smoke,” said Salam Anwar, a farmer in the village. “The smoke falls on our crops and stunts their growth.”
Villagers reported that sickness has become pervasive among them since the refineries opened around 2010.
Failure to enforce compliance with emissions standards and poor vehicle maintenance contribute greatly to the high levels of toxic exhaust emissions, and a lack of investment and ease of access to efficient public transit incentivizes people to remain dependent on private vehicles.
In 2019, the KRG’s Board of Environmental Protection and Improvement passed a decree punishing littering and polluting. Driving a vehicle with high emissions would incur a 200,000 dinar ($168 at the time) fine and traffic police could decide to confiscate a vehicle.
However, the board regularly complains that they lack the executive authority to enforce their regulations.
“We are not an executive body…we oversee their [other ministries] work,” Abdulrazaq Khailani, the spokesperson for the environmental board, told Rudaw in June.
The board did not respond to a request for an interview for this article.
Daily, vehicles can be seen on the roads spewing large, dark plumes of smoke, filling the air while generators rumble into action every time the public electricity cuts out.
The haze that hangs over Erbil is a perpetual reminder to the eyes and noses, which have not grown accustomed to the stench and dismal sight, of the need for systematic action to develop cleaner alternatives.