Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL) has let a contract to Dastur International Inc. and Lummus Technology LLC to jointly execute a feasibility study for a petcoke gasification project at Kochi Refinery, in the Indian state of Kerala.
The study will evaluate the feasibility of the proposed petcoke gasification project and production of value-added petrochemicals and clean fuel products.
The 15.5 million tonnes Kochi Refinery is a facility of the selloff-bound Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL). The refinery currently produces over 1.2 million tonnes petcoke per annum from its delayed coker unit.
If approved, the new project will manufacture many value-added petrochemicals like acetic acid, ethanol, methanol, many types of alcohols and also hydrogen and more efficient fuels in a highly cost-competitive and sustainable manner.
The feasibility study comes as part of BPCL’s strategy to transform its petcoke output into an environmentally friendly feedstock for production of clean-energy products ahead of what are likely soon-to-be increased regulatory restrictions on the refining byproduct.
“Refinery capacity and output is rapidly growing in India. With the increasing use of heavier and sour crudes, sustainable utilization of petcoke from refineries is a concern,” said Murali Madhavan, BPCL’s executive director for the Kochi refinery.