IOC dedicates new unit at Bongaigaon refinery

Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. has officially commissioned the new INDMAX fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit at its 2.35 million-tpy Bongaigaon refinery at Dhaligaon, Chirang District, in India’s northeastern state of Assam, about 200 km west of Guwahati (OGJ Online, July 10, 2020).

Shri Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, dedicated the 740,000-tpy INDMAX FCC unit in a ceremony on Feb. 22 alongside a series of projects designed to strengthen the region’s role as an energy hub for the country, the government of India said in a release.

Based on novel technology developed by IOC’s research and development division and jointly licensed by partner Lummus Technology LLC, Bongaigaon’s INDMAX FCC unit specifically was proposed to eliminate the refinery’s production of black oil and naphtha by upgrading these less profitable fractions into high-value LPG and Bharat Stage VI (BS VI, equivalent to Euro 6-quality standards) gasoline with less than 10 ppm sulfur, according to official project documents dated Sept. 2, 2015.

Part of India’s broader Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for the Northeast—which aims to double oil and gas production by 2030—Bongaigaon’s Indmax FCC primarily is intended to maximize LPG production at the refinery by five times to help make up for the shortfall in ever-increasing regional demand for LPG, IOC said in July 2020.

Mechanically completed and in its precommissioning-commissioning stages by midyear 2020 despite setbacks resulting from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the 25.82-billion rupee INDMAX FCC project at Bongaigaon also was to include addition of an accompanying LPG treatment unit as well as a 312,0000-tpy INDMAX gasoline desulfurization unit, according to the operator.

IOC previously installed INDMAX projects at its Guwahati refinery in Assam and Paradip refinery in Odisha (OGJ Online, Apr. 22, 2016).