India’s BPCL to build 3m tonne/yr PRFCC at Mumbai complex

MUMBAI (ICIS)–India’s Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) plans to build a 3m tonne/year petrochemical residual fluidized catalytic cracking plant (PRFCC) at its Mumbai complex in western Maharashtra state by 2022, a company source said on Monday.

A petrochemical plant in Mumbai, India. (Photo by Rafiq Maqbool/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

The Indian rupee (Rs) 68.8bn ($993m) project, which is part of BPCL’s refinery modernization plan, will replace the refinery’s catalytic cracking unit (CCU) commissioned in 1955 and the fluidized catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) commissioned in 1985.

The PRFCC project will include a main fractionator and unsaturated gas plant (USGP); a regenerator flue gas scrubber; an unsaturated liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) treating unit (LTU); a propylene recovery unit (PRU); and a sulphur recovery unit.

BPCL expects to receive required environmental clearances for the project soon, the source said.

The PRFCC will help maximize the company’s polymer-grade propylene production, which will feed its upcoming polypropylene (PP) unit at Rasayani in Maharashtra, the source said.

The Mumbai refinery will supply propylene feedstock to BPCL’s planned 450,000 tonne/year PP plant, which is expected to be commissioned by 2022-23.

($1 = Rs69.3)