Gujarat Refinery
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The Gujarat Refinery at Koyali (Near Baroda) in Gujarat in Western India is Indian Oil Corporation’s largest [1] Refinery. It is the largest Public Sector Refinery of India and most energy efficient Refinery of IOCL.
Its facilities include five Atmospheric Crude Distillation Units (ADU). The major secondory units include CRU, FCCU and the first Hydrocracking unit of the country. Through a product pipeline to Ahmedabad and a recently commissioned product pipeline connecting to BKPL product pipeline and also by rail wagons/trucks, the refinery primarily serves the demand for petroleum products in western and northern India.
When commissioned, the Refinery had an initial installed capacity of 2 MMTPA (Million Metric Tonnes Per Annum) and was designed to process crude from Ankleshwar, Kalol and Nawagam oilfields of ONGC in Gujarat. The Refinery had further modified to handle imported & Bombay high Crude. Secondory processing facilities like CRU, FCC, Hydorcracker, DHDS, are also commissioned time to time. Its present day capacity is 13.70 MMTPA [1]. The company has already commissioned the facilities for MTBE and Butene-1 production. The refinery also produces a wide range of specialty products like Benzene, Toluene, MTO, Food Grade Hexane, solvents, LABFS, etc.
The Gujarat Refinery achieved the distinction of becoming the first refinery in the India to have completed the DHDS (Diesel Hydro De-sulphurisation) project in June 1999, when the refinery started production of HSD with low sulphur content of 0.25% wt (max.).
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[edit] History
Following the conclusion of an Indo-Soviet agreement in 1961 February [2], a site for the establishment of a 2 MMTPA Oil Refinery in Gujarat at Koyali near Vadodara was selected on the 17th April 1961 [2]. The Soviet and Indian engineers signed a contract in October 1961 for the preparation of the project report jointly. The first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone of this Refinery on 10th May, 1963 [2].
The Refinery was commissioned with Soviet assistance at a cost of Rs.26.00 crores and went on stream in October 1965. The first million tonne Crude Distillation Unit was commissioned for trial production on 11th October 1965 and full production at the rated capacity was achieved on 6th December 1965. The throughput was further increased by 20% beyond the designed capacity in January 1966.
Dr S Radhakrishnan, the then President of India, dedicated the refinery to the nation with the commissioning of second crude distillation unit and Catalytic Reforming Unit on 18th October, 1966.
The third 1.0 mmtpa crude distillation unit (AU-3) was commissioned in September 1967 to process Ankleshwar & North Gujarat crudes. In December 1968, Udex plant was commissioned for production of benzene & toluene using feedstock available from CRU. By 1974-75 with in-house modifications, the capacity of the refinery was further increased by 40% to a level of 4.2 mmtpa. To process imported crude the refinery was expanded during 1978-79 by adding another 3 MMTPA Crude Distillation unit (AU-4) along with downstream processing units like Vacuum Distillation, Visbreaker & Bitumen Blowing Unit. By 1980-81 this unit started processing Bombay High crude in addition to imported crudes. It was for the first time in Indian petroleum industry that Indian engineers independently handled such a big project.
To recover high value products from the residue, the secondary processing facilities consisting of Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) of 1.0 mmtpa capacity along with a Feed Preparation Unit (FCCU) of 1.0 mmtpa capacities, were commissioned in December 1982. Refinery also set up Pilot Distillation Facilities (PDF) for the production of N- Heptane & light Aluminum Rolling Oils (LARO). Meanwhile, to enable absorption of increased indigenous crudes the crude processing capacity of the refinery was further increased to 9.5 mmtpa.
In 1993-94, Gujarat commissioned the country's first Hydrocracker Unit of 1.2 mmtpa for conversion of heavier ends of crude oil to high value superior products.
Country's first Diesel Hydrodesulphurisation Unit (DHDS) to reduce sulphur content in diesel was commissioned by Gujarat Refinery in June 1999. Also commissioned in September eliminate lead in MS. Also MTBE Unit was commissioned in September 1999 to eliminate lead in MS. Conceptualised and commissioned South-East Asia's largest centralised effluent treatment plant by dismantling all the four old ETP's in June 1999. By September 1999 with commissioning of atmospheric distillation unit (AU-5), Gujarat Refinery further augmented its capacity to 13.7 mmtpa making it the largest PSU refinery of the country.
A project for production of high value LAB (Linear Alkyl Benzene -- which is one of the major raw materials used in manufacturing detergents) from Kerosene streams has been implemented. In order to meet future fuel quality requirements, MS Quality improvement facilities was commissioned in 2006.
- LAB (Linear Alkyl Benzene): The year 2004-05 marked IndianOil’s big-ticket entry into petrochemicals with the commissioning of the country’s largest Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) plant at Gujarat Refinery in August 2004 [3]. It is also the largest grassroots single train Kerosene-to-LAB unit in the world, with an installed capacity of 1,20,000 MTPA[3]. Currently, two grades of LAB – high molecular weight and low molecular weight – are being produced. The quality of the LAB produced here has found wide acceptance in the domestic and overseas markets. Built at a cost of Rs. 1,248 crore [3] and commissioned in a record 24 months’ time, the plant produces superior quality LAB for manufacturing environment-friendly biodegradable detergents, using state-of-the-art Detal technology from M/s UOP, USA. The key raw materials for the plant, catering to domestic as well as export market requirements meeting the latest and most stringent quality standards, are Kerosene and Benzene produced at Gujarat Refinery.
