Project Profile
Value: US$410 Million
Startup Year: 2012
Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra State
The project will see the upgrade and modernisation of the existing Mumbai refinery. The project facilities are to include a Continuous Catalystic Regeneration Reformer (CCR) unit, with matching Naphtha Hydro-Treatment unit and Pressure Swing Adsorber unit for Continuous Catalytic Regeneration. The Continuous Catalytic Regeneration unit will have a capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum.
Designed to enable the Mumbai refinery to produce 100% BS 4-quality gasoline—a total of 2.3 million tpy—by the April, 2-17 deadline for a national switch to 100% production of BS 4 fuels as mandated by India’s Auto Fuel Vision & Policy 2025, the isomerization project joins a host of BPCL’s other upcoming as well as previously completed projects to bring the refinery into compliance with the country’s clean-fuels initiative.
ISOMERIZATION UNIT
Commissioned in March 2017, the isomerization unit will produce an isomerate gasoline blend stock using low-temperature Isolmalk-2 process technology licensed by GTC Technology US LLC, Houston. Which also provided basic engineering design, catalysts, chemicals, equipment supply, and process guarantees for the project.
HYDROTREATING UNIT
A second project under way at the refinery includes construction of a 2.6 million-tpy diesel hydrotreating unit, which also will include setting up associated installations such as an amine regeneration unit and an upgrade of an existing sour water stripper to help maximize capacity of Mumbai’s sulfur recovery unit Trains C and D.
Intended to help meet the April mandate for 100% BS 4-compliant fuel production, the diesel hydrotreating project at Mumbai is scheduled to be fully completed in December 2017.
In line with the Indian government’s decision to leapfrog directly to BS 6 (Euro 6-equalivent) compliance by Apr. 1, 2020, BPCL also has launched a project to add a gasoline hydrotreating unit at Mumbai to reach 100% production of BS 6-quality gasoline by the 2020 deadline.
The gasoline hydrotreating project will include construction of a 900,000-tpy hydrotreating unit, as well as proposed revamps of the refinery’s existing 700-tonne/day diesel HDS unit, a 900 tonne/day associated sour water stripper, and a 4,250 tonne/day amine regeneration unit, according to BPCL’s March 2016 project feasibility report.
As of August 2016, BPCL was in the process of selecting technology licensors for the gasoline hydrotreating project.
Operator:
Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL)
Contractors:
Axens: CCRRU/NHTU/PSAU units
Dresser-Rand India Pvt. Ltd.: NHT recycle gas compressor for the CCR project
GEA Technofrigo S.p.A: Refrigeration package
Thomassen Compression Systems: Hydrogen rich gas compressor for CCR project
Uhde India Private Ltd.: PMC for NHT and CCR units
GTC Technology US: Isomerization unit