Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL), Mumbai, through Air Products & Chemicals Inc., has let a contract to Technip SA to provide project management, as well as engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) services for a new industrial gas complex at BPCL’s Kochi refinery at Ambalmugal in the Indian state of Kerala.
To be built on a “build-own-operate” basis (BOO), the gas complex will supply BPCL industrial gases (hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen) for the Kochi refinery’s integrated expansion project (OGJ Online, July 16, 2012), which will increase the refinery’s capacity to 15.5 million tonnes/year (tpy) from 9.5 million tpy and produce fuels that meet Europe’s latest emissions standards, Technip said in a release.
In addition to associated utilities, the BOO project will include the following main components:
• A two-train, 91,000-normal-cu-m/hr hydrogen unit based on steam-methane reforming.
• An air-separation unit to produce nitrogen and oxygen.
• Steam generation and export to BPCL’s manufacturing process,
• A power-production gas turbine to produce power for the complex.
The new plant also will feature technology to maximize efficiency and limit emissions, including optimal heat integration, which aids in lowering feedstock consumption during production, according to Technip.
BPCL previously let contracts for the integrated expansion to Petron Engineering Construction Ltd. and Shriram EPC Ltd. for work related to fluid catalytic cracking units (FCCUs) at the Kochi refinery (OGJ Online, July 28, 2014; Nov. 19, 2013).
