India expands clean fuels programmes

Edited by the Processingtalk editorial team Nov 19, 2007

Axens has recently been awarded several major basic engineering design packages and technology licenses for new, clean fuels programmes with IndianOil

The contracts are for the following refineries: Guwahati, Barauni, Mathura, Digboi, Panipat, and Paradip.

Commissioning of the units is scheduled for 2010 when the Euro IV equivalent specifications come into force in India.

The one million ton per annum (1Mtpa) Guwahati, and 0.65Mtpa Digboi refineries will install 45,000 tpa C5 / C6 deisohexanizer (DIH) configuration isomerisation units to provide a high octane component for the gasoline pool.

A major gasoline pool upgrading project will be undertaken at the 6Mtpa Barauni refinery with the addition of a 322,000 tpa Prime-G+ unit to desulphurise fluidised catalytic cracked (FCC) gasoline to less than 100 ppm sulphur, a 126,000 tpa C5 / C6 DIH isomerisation unit, and a revamp of the existing catalytic reformer unit to a capacity of 300,000 tpa of reformate.

The 8Mtpa Mathura and 12Mtpa Panipat refineries will add new 525,000 and 370,000 tpa Prime-G+ units respectively to treat their FCC gasoline stream to less than 100 ppm sulphur.

In addition, the new, 1,Mtpa grassroots Paradip refinery has selected HyC-10 technology.

This 105,000 tpa unit enables the desulphurisation, with mild conversion, of vacuum gasoil (VGO) feed to an FCC unit with simultaneous improvement in the quality of the diesel fraction.

The FCC VGO feed sulphur content is reduced to 700ppm, which enables better operation of the FCC and higher gasoline yields.

The sulphur content in the diesel cut is reduced to 10ppm.

Axens is a benchmark provider of clean fuels technologies.

Prime-G+ is the leading gasoline desulphurisation technology with over 140 licenses to date.

Hy-C10 is one of the latest Axens commercial successes enabling a significant capital reduction for mild hydrocracking.

Other clean fuels technologies are: Prime-D (ultra low middle distillate desulphurisation), Octanizsng (CCR reforming to produce hydrogen and high octane gasoline from naphtha), and various C5/C6 isomerisation technology configurations (gasoline octane improvement).