KOCHI: The commissioning of the Propylene Derivatives Petrochemical Project (PDPP) being developed at the BPCL’s Kochi Refinery Ltd (KRL) has started and the product will be out by May-June, according to top officials of BPCL.
Talking to analysts recently, a top official of the company scotched the rumours that the project is getting delayed further, and added that it’s on schedule.
PDPP has been conceived as part of the Integrated Refinery Expansion Project in Kochi Refinery at a cost of Rs5500 crore ($770million).
The project has been envisaged to be commissioned in phases and the first phase was initially scheduled to be commissioned by October last, according to some reports.
The project includes an acrylic acid unit with a capacity of 160,000 tonnes a year and a 212,000 tonnes/year oxo-alcohol unit. The chemicals produced will be used to make paints, coatings and adhesives.
The 310,000 barrels-per-day Kochi Refinery produces 500,000 tonnes a year of propylene, and almost half of this will serve as feedstock to the propylene derivatives unit.
Once commissioned, Kochi Refinery will have the distinction of being the first refinery in India to produce the niche petrochemicals that are otherwise imported in huge volumes thus charging the exchequer to the extent of about Rs4500 crore a year.
According to a top KRL executive, besides being the first of its kind in India, the upcoming PDPP’s acrylic acid unit is tipped to be the largest single-train unit in the world with a capacity of 160 kilotonnes per annum (KTPA).
The petrochemical park that is taking shape on the land acquired from FACT with an eye on promoting micro, small and medium downstream petrochemical units aims to use the raw materials available from the PDPP unit established under KRL.
