Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. (IOC) has started up the 4.27 million-tonne/year INDMAX fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit at its recently commissioned 15 million-tpy, full-conversion refinery at Paradip in India’s state of Odisha on the country’s northeastern coast (OGJ Online, Oct. 19, 2015; Apr. 29, 2015; Nov. 16, 2011).
Jointly licensed by Lummus Technology Inc., a subsidiary of CB&I, Houston, and IOC, which is the largest single-train, high-olefin yield FCCs globally, entered operation in early December 2015, CB&I said in a recent update on the project.
A novel technology developed by IOC’s research and development division to produce a high-yield of light olefins and high-octane gasoline from an array of petroleum fractions, INDMAX has been implemented since 2003 in a 100,000-tpy unit at IOC’s Guwahati refinery in Assam, India.
The technology is capable of producing 18-24 wt % of propylene on fresh freed, as well as gasoline with a research octane number (RON) of 95-102, CB&I said.
Lummus Technology serves as the sole licensor for INDMAX FCC technology globally.
Additional INDMAX projects
As part of India’s Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for the North-East, which aims to double oil and gas production by 2030, IOC recently announced it has approved the addition of an INDMAX FCC unit (including treatment of LPG) at its 2.35 million-tpy Bongaigaon refinery in Assam.
Bongaigaon’s proposed INDMAX FCC unit will have a capacity of 740,000 tpy, IOC said.
The state-owned operator said it also recently completed a revamp of the INDMAX FCC at its Guwahati refinery, according to a Feb. 26 release.
Designed to expand the unit’s capacity by 50%, the Guwahati unit’s overhaul involved major modifications to the riser, reactor, stripper, regenerator, and main fractionating column, IOC said.
Specific activities executed during the revamp included the following:
• Replacement of reactor’s riser and rcyclones.
• Replacement of the regenerator’s primary and secondary cyclones.
• Replacement of the stripper’s baffles with modgrids.
• Replacement of main-stripping steam distributor and bottom-fluidization steam distributor.
• Replacement of a spool piece in the riser.
• Replacement of a spool piece in the regenerated-catalyst standpipe.
• Application of erosion-resistant refractory lining.
• Modifications in main fractionating column trays, nozzles, etc.
• Piping modifications and pipe rerouting.
• Replacement of heat exchangers, pumps, etc.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
