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Yield and Product Slate Improvement
refining and petrochemicals business can be
realized.
Residue conversion options are being revisited to
arrive at techno commercially feasible options to
increase overall distillate yields beyond 80-82%
and reduce the production of heavy ends. With
an increasing thrust towards value addition,
configuration studies are now looking at higher
•
•
Benefit from the higher demand growth and
return for petrochemicals versus fuels.
Control over petrochemical feedstock costs
helps to maintain margins in petrochemical
products
capacities (low cost expansion) to derive benefits
of economies of scale and possible integration
with a petrochemical complex, so that more value
can be added to the refining operations. Such
integrations add significantly to the refining
• Reduced capital and operating costs on
account of shared infrastructure and reduced
emissions as compared to standalone
facilities.
margins but they come at a price. The approach to
such integrations would be to phase the
investments e.g. initially in a refinery and
aromatics complex and then add the olefins
production facilities, an approach that has been
followed by the Panipat refinery of M/s Indian Oil
corporation Ltd. At times it may make more sense
to follow the reverse sequence, i.e., set up the
olefins/aromatics production facilities based on
feed from other sources and gradually integrate
backwards with refining. Figure 2 illustrates some
possible linkages between a refinery and a
petrochemicals complex.
It is not surprising that a number of mega projects
envisaging the setting up of integrated refinery
cum petrochemical projects are at different stages
of implementation. The Reliance Refinery at
Jamnagar and the Panipat Refinery of IOCL are
two leading examples. The Paradip Refinery
Project of IOCL is planned on similar lines, but
with a phasing of expenditure. A number of other
feasibility reports have been prepared for projects
that envisage similar refinery/petrochemical
linkages. It is understood that similar facilities are
also planned to be set up in China and Saudi
Arabia.
Figure 2: Possible Refinery/Petrochemical linkages
Gasification for residue Upgrading
The refinery/petrochemicals linkage offers a
number of other benefits, which include: As discussed earlier, residue upgrading projects
•
•
Flexibility to shift the balance of production
between fuels and petrochemicals
Advantage of different economic cycles of the
are being pursued quite actively, with the objective
of monetizing heavy residual streams. The
technology options could involve either Hydrogen