ONGC Mangalore Petrochemical—a venture jointly promoted by India’s largest crude oil and natural gas producer, Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC; Dehradun, India; www.ongcindia.com), and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd. (MRPL; Mangalore, India; www.mrpl.co.in)—has chosen UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com) to furnish technology, basic engineering services and equipment for a new aromatics complex. Located in the Mangalore Special Economic Zone, the new facility is intended to meet the increasing petrochemical demand within the region. "UOP worked closely with us in building our existing refinery," ONGC Mangalore and Petrochemicals CEO C.B. Subramanian said today, as part of the announcement, "and we are pleased to work with them again in the development of this new project."
Deriving naphtha and aromatic-rich stream as feedstock from the existing refinery, the complex is expected to produce 900,000 metric tons per year of high-purity para-xylene and 275,000 m.t./yr of high-purity benzene. UOP technologies set to be used within the complex include the UOP CCR Platforming Process, the UOP Isomar Process, the UOP Parex Process, the UOP Tatoray Process and the Shell Sulfolane Process.
Said to be the largest petrochemicals plant proposed for southern India to date, it is scheduled for completion sometime in 2010.