Chennai Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (CPCL), a group company of Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. (IOCL) has selected Axens (Rueil-Malmaison, France) to supply several advanced technologies for its state-of-the-art 9 MTPA refinery to be set at Cauvery Basin at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu (southern part of India).
CPCL’s Cauvery Basin Refinery (CBR) was commissioned in November 1993, to process Narimanam crude, initially with a capacity of 0.5 MMTPA further expanded to 1.0 MMTPA in 2002. CPCL is planning to expand the capacity of CBR by adding grassroots facilities at the same location of the existing refinery in Nagapattinam.
For over a decade, Axens has built a strong and trustful relationship with CPCL for its Manali Refinery (10.5 MMTPA), involved in technologies, catalysts and services supply and supporting it through different projects.
As part of this Cauvery Basin Refinery Project, Axens will provide the following technologies for:
o One naphtha hydrotreating unit
o One reforming unit (Octanizing)
o One C5-C6 isomerization unit
o One vacuum gasoil (VGO) hydrotreater incorporating ZPJE spiraled tube heat exchangers technology that enables to achieve highest energy efficiency through heat recovery maximization.
o One cracked gasoline selective desulfurization (Prime-G+) unit, and
o One sulfur block consisting of two trains of Claus unit and two trains of tail-gas treatment unit (Sultimate).
The scope of Axens’ work includes the supply of process book, catalysts and adsorbents proprietary equipment, trainings and technical services.
Axens’ Process Licensing Global Business Unit executive vice-president Patrick Sarrazin says: “Today marks a significant step towards the expansion of the CPCL’s Cauvery Basin Refinery. With these numerous advanced technologies, CPCL will be well positioned to supply the market with clean fuels reaching Bharat Stage VI (BS VI) specifications. Our extensive refining technology expertise, global capabilities in the basic design, catalysts, equipment and services supply position Axens ideally to deliver this important contract for CPCL.”
Axens is recognized as a key global solutions provider in the Motor Spirit (MS) Block providing NHT, C5-C6 isomerization and reforming processes with the Octanizing Technology, combining proven and reliable technologies with advanced catalytic solutions to produce high quality gasoline components meeting the latest Bharat Stage VI gasoline specifications.
Prime-G+ is the worldwide technology leader for the selective desulfurization of FCC Gasoline, recognized worldwide for its best performances, innovative design and catalyst performances.
Axens’ VGO Hydrotreatment technology enables to desulfurize the VGO cut and reach the appropriate level of sulfur, hydrogen and nitrogen contents in order to maximize performance of the downstream catalytic cracking. With a complete portfolio, Axens proposes a combination of a smart design and optimized catalyst solutions. Axens offers different advanced and proprietary solutions for sulfur recovery through its acquisition of Prosernat extending its wide processing technologies portfolio and adding more than 450 industrial references in the oil-and-gas sector.