Under the long-term agreement, Air Products will build the new syngas production facility at the BPCL’s Kochi Refinery located at Ambalamugal, near Kochi in Kerala.
Featuring Air Products’ cryogenic gas separation technologies, the new facility will be equipped to produce a hydrogen/carbon monoxide syngas.
The resulting syngas will be supplied to the BPCL’s new Propylene Derivatives Petrochemical Project (PDPP), which is currently under development to serve the growing domestic market in India.
The syngas unit will employ Air Products’ proprietary cryogenic gas separation technologies to produce a hydrogen/carbon monoxide syngas which will feed the new PDPP.
Air Products said it already operates an industrial gas complex to support the BPCL’s Integrated Refinery Expansion Project (IREP) at the 190,000 barrels per day Kochi refinery.
The industrial gas complex is designed to provide hydrogen, syngas, nitrogen and oxygen for BPCL's Kochi Refinery and petrochemicals complex, supporting the nation's outsourced hydrogen needs.
BPCL refineries director Ramachandran said that the commissioning of the IREP in 2017 has made the BPCL Kochi Refinery the largest Public Sector refinery in India.
The IREP produces auto-fuels which comply with the required Bharat Stage IV (Euro IV) specifications.
BPCL Kochi Refinery executive director Prasad Panicker said: “The PDPP enables BPCL to enter the Indian petrochemical market and enhance the value obtained from its refining operations.
“BPCL values having a long-term reliable supply of syngas and other industrial gases to support these new petrochemical production units.”
The Kochi Refinery, which is one of the BPCL’s two refineries in India, has a crude oil refining capacity of 15.5 million metric tons per annum (MMTPA).
Image: Air Products & Chemicals headquarters in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania, US. Photo: courtesy of CyberXRef/Wikipedia.
