File:Inside of a Chimney in Iru Thermal Power Plant.jpg

English: We are now inside the impressive red-and-white-coloured chimney of Iru Power Plant. The height of the chimney is 202.4 meters. The shell of the chimney made of reinforced concrete, repaired and rebuilt in 1996, today hides 3 insulated flue gas pipes made of stainless steel, an elevator and a spiral staircase with lighting. Until 1996, the entire chimney was evenly filled with thick black smoke because the plant used mazut as fuel. It was the use of mazut that was the reason why the chimney needed a major overhaul. Namely, petroleum and its various products contain up to 2% of sulphur, which on combustion produce sulphur oxides, and these in turn produce sulphuric acid when reacting with water vapour. The acidic environment broke the concrete inner surface of the chimney and began to affect the steel support structure inside the concrete, which could have collapsed and been life-threatening. There is also an environmental station in the chimney, where the compliance of the flue gases of the waste block with the environmental requirements is monitored in real time.