INDUSTRIAL TRAINING REPORT

INDIAN OIL CORPORATION LIMITED

GUJARAT REFINERY, KOYALI

02nd June, 2014 TO 28th June, 2014

PREPARED BY:NEERAJ K BHESANIA B.E (CHEMICAL)

(THE
MAHARAJA
SAYAJIRAO
UNIVERSITY

OF

BARODA)

PREFACE
Industrial training is one of the most important part of a syllabus
of engineering, because the true essence of engineering lies on
the ground zero of Chemical Industries. What we learn in
classes have a sole motto of attaining abilities to implement our
knowledge in these industries.
Main objective of this training is to get practical knowhow of
how a chemical process is implemented on large scale. The
way any company operates is a thing to observe and
understand.
Training teaches us discipline, interaction with people and
importance of teamwork.
This report contains a brief introduction to GUJARAT
REFINERY and brief insights into various units of the refinery.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgement

Introduction to IOCL

A glance at Gujarat Refinery

Gujarat Hydrocracker Unit (HCU)

Diesel Hydro-Desulphurisation Unit (DHDS Unit)

11

Catalytic Reforming Unit (CRU)

15

Atmospheric Distillation Units- I &II (AU-I &II)

22

Fluidised Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU)

26

Oil Movement and Storage(OM&S)

33

LPG Unit

36

Conclusions

38

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I express my sincere gratitude to the Management of Indian Oil Corporation

Limited, Vadodara for providing me an opportunity to complete my summer
internship for Bachelors in Chemical Engineering.

On successful completion of my training I would like to thank Mr. A.C Shekhar,

Chief Manager (MS, T&D) for permitting me to commence my training. From the
bottom of my heart, I would like to thank my mentor Mr M.M Parmar, Chief
Production Manager (OM&S) to guide me throughout my training.

Last but not the least, there are many other officers of production in various units of
Gujarat Refinery who have contributed immensely towards successful completion of
my training .I would like to thank them all. Their guidance was indispensible in my
whole training.

INTRODUCTION TO IOCL
Indian Oil Coorporation Limited is Indias largest company by sales with a revenue of
4,88,344 crores and a profit of 7885 crores for the year 2013-14.
Indian oil is the highest ranked Indian company in the latest Fortune Global 500
rankings at the 83rd position. Indian Oils vision is driven by a group of dynamic
leaders who have made it a name to reckon with.
As the premier National Oil Company, Indian Oils endeavour is to serve the national
economy and the people of India and to fulfil its vision.
Beginning in 1959 as Indian Oil Company Ltd, IOCL was formed in 1964 with the
merger of Indian Refineries Limited.
Indian Oil has been serving as a source of technical support and expertise to
petroleum companies of various countries across the globe. Some of these
countries, which have partnered for excellence include Sri Lanka,Bahrain, Iraq, Abu
Dhabi, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Algeria, Nigeria, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Malaysia and
Zambia.
Indian Oil has wide-ranging expertise in setting up and operating Greenfield
refineries and Brownfield expansions. It has pioneered Pipeline transportation
knowhow in India, and has over four decades of experience in putting up marketing
infrastructure across the sub-continent, to reach petroleum products to millions of
people everyday; backed up by cutting edge technology and services covering the
entire gamut of downstream operations.
Indian Oil has been lending its expertise for nearly two decades to various countries
in several areas of marketing, refining, transportation, training and R&D. These
include Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Abu Dhabi, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Algeria,
Nigeria, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Malaysia.
Indian Oils capabilities in the downstream sector of operations in the oil sector
include; Technical and Consultancy Services, Operation & Maintenance, Technology
feasibility/special studies, Turnaround Maintenance- planning, monitoring &
execution, Inspection, Quality control: Benchmarking, Shipping and commercial,
Logistics, Research and Development, Safety and Industrial hygiene, Quality control,
Managing materials, Training.
In all this and more, Indian Oil looks forward to sharing its experience worldwide.
The Indian Oil group of companies owns and operates 10 out of Indias 22 refineries
with a combined refining capacity of 60.2 MMTPA.

A GLACE AT GUJARAT REFINERY

The Gujarat Refinery of IOCL at Koyali in Western India is Indian Oils second
largest refinery after Panipat. The refinery was commissioned in 1965-1966. Its
facilities include five Atmospheric crude Distillation Units, one units of CRU, FCC,
GHC, MSQ, LAB plant, Coker, OM&S, DHDS/DHDT, Isomerization, an ARU, SRU
etc. Hydrocracker unit is the first such unit in India.
Gujarat refinery, operating with an installed crude processing capacity of 13.7
MMTPA, processes indigenous and imported both low sulphur and high sulphur
grades of crude oil. The product slate includes besides fuel, petrochemical products
such as Linear Alkyl Benzene, Polypropylene feedstock, and Food & Polymer Grade
Hexane.
Gujarat refinery is implementing a mega project worth around 7000 crore to
comply with the roadmap for supplying eco-friendly Bharat Stage-III and IV compliant
MS and HSD and to upgrade the bottom of the barrel to improve the gross margin of
the refinery.
The refinery has invested about 40% of the project cost for producing eco-friendly
products to take care of the environment at the customers end. Quality improvement
units like Diesel hydrotreater (DHDS/DHDT), Sulphur recovery plant (SRU) with
99.99% conversion along with state-of-art Sulphur Pelletisation Unit and Hydrogen
Unit have already been commissioned. The refinery has already started dispatching
both BS-III and BS-IV compliant products to the market. The project related to the

upgradation of the bottom of

construction/commissioning.

the barrel ia at an advanced stage of

To take care of the environment, Gujarat Refinery has registered its Clean
Development Mechanism Project Flare Gas Recovery under the United Nations
Framework for combating climate change, and the facilities have already been
installed. State-of-art Central Effluent Treatment facilities have been made to meet
the revised minas crude oil specifications. Total treated effluent recycling in the
cooling tower is already been in place as a part of Indian Oils fresh water
conservation policy.
Gujarat Refinery has given topmost priority to tree plantation as a part of air pollution
control measures. About two lakh tress have been planted over 139 acres of land in
the periphery of the refinery. By setting up a pond spread over 3 acres; a home away
from home has been created for birds, both migratory and non-migratory.
It is Gujarat refinerys sustained endeavour too conserve energy by adopting
Hydrogen Recovery and management system, recovery of heat from residual heat of
hot streams, selecting high efficiency and latest technologies/equipments and
minimizing the specific energy consumption through reduction of fuel & loss. The
specific energy consumption expressed in terms of MBN (Thousand British Thermal
Units/ Barrel/ Energy Factor) has come down from 100 to 64 within a span of 15
years. Efforts areon to achieve the industry benchmark level.

Committed to safe operations, Gujarat Refinery has achieved accident free 89 million
man-hours till July 2010. All process units-existing and under implementationcomply with all applicable safety standards and norms which include installation of
gas-detectors, centralized fire call monitoring system, fire-fighting facilities,process
interlocks etc. Gujaray Refinery has two fire stations with fire-fighting netwaok
spreading all over the refinerywith monitors, hydrants and remote operated monitors.
A three-tier safety review level operates proactively to avoid any untoward accident.
As a part of disaster management, mutual aid facilities among the adjoining
industries are in place to supplement a well-defined disaster management policy of
the Refinery.
Indian Oil will invest 8000 crore in expansion of Gujarat refinery capacity to
18 MMTPA by 2016-17. This will enhance the capability of the refinery to distill
high sulphur crude oil and hence its profit margin.

GUJARAT HYDROCRACKER(HCU):Crude oil contains hydrocarbons ranging from one-carbon compounds to sixtycarbon compounds. Gujarat Refinery processes crude oil from various feed sources
into marketable products. These products are Motor-spirit, Kerosene, ATF, Diesel,
Lubricants, FGH, PGH, Bitumen. After refining of crude and obtaining above
products, there remains heavier fraction of crude oil which doesnt yield marketable
products. The prime objective of Hydrocracking process is to crack this heavier
fraction into lighter middle distillates which are in demand in the market.
The crude oil is first distilled by IOCL in Atmospheric Distillation Units where
lighter distillates are taken out.
What is obtained at the bottoms of ADUs is Reduced crude oil (RCO).
This reduced crude oil is processed BY IOCL in Vacuum Distillation
Units(VDU) where VGO is obtained.
PROCESS DESCRIPTION:AN OVERVIEW:In hydrocracker, the VGO feed is subjected to cracking in 2 stage reactor over the
catalyst bed in presence of hydrogen at pressure of 170 kg/sq cm & temperature
ranging from 365 to 441 deg C. The cracked products are separated in fractionators.
Light ends are recovered/stabilised in debutaniser column. The process removes
almost all sulphur and nitrogen from feed by converting them into H2S & Ammonia
respectively. Thus the products obtained are free of sulphur & nitrogen compounds
and are saturated. Therefore, except for mild caustic wash for LPG, post treatment is
not required for the other products.
HCU has following sections:1.
2.
3.
4.

First stage reactor section.

Second stage reactor section.
Fractionation section.
Light ends recovery section.

FIRST STAGE REACTOR SECTION:The VGO is prepared as a feed in FPU(Feed Preparation Unit) and heated in the
exchangers and brought to the pressure of 185 kg/ sq cm by feed booster pumps. It
is mixed with recycle hydrogen and pure hydrogen from make-up compressors and
further heated in reactor effluent exchanger followed by furnace upto 385 deg C
before it enters the reactor. The first stage reactor contains three catalyst beds with
two intermediate quench zones which use recycle gas as the quencher. The reactor
8

effluent is cooled in exchanger, steam generators and finally in an air fin cooler upto
65 deg C. It is then flashed in the High Pressure Separator (HPS) from which
hydrogen rich gas is recycled back to the reactor.
The liquid product from the separator flows through a Power Recovery Turbine
(PRT) to the Cold Low Pressure Separator (CLPS). The first stage reactor converts
approximately 40% of the feed to middle distillates and lighter products.
SECOND STAGE REACTOR SECTION:Converted feed from the first stage reactor is removed in the fractionators section
and unconverted material from the first stage forms the feed to the second stage.
Feed from vacuum distillation column bottom is boosted upto 185 kg/sq cm and
mixed with recycle gas and pure hydrogen from the make-up compressors and is
heated in the reactor effluent heat exchanger followed by second stage reactor
furnace upto 345 deg C before it is sent to the reactor.
This reactor also contains three catalyst beds with two intermediates quench zones
where recycle gas acts as the quenching media. The reactor effluent is cooled in the
exchangers, steam generators upto 204 deg C and is fed to Hot High Pressure
Separator (HHPS).
The liquid from HHPS flows through a power recovery turbine, which drives the feed
pump, and goes to Hot Low Pressure Separator (HLPS) before going into the
fractionation section.
The hydrogen rich gas are cooled in exchangers followed by air cooler to 65 deg C
before entering the Cold High Pressure Separator (CHPS).
FRACTIONATOR:Liquid from the HLPS is heated in the exchangers and finally in the furnace upto 345
deg C before it is sent to the fractionation section. The overhead products are offgases and light naphtha. Off gases are washed with amine to remove H2S and are
sent to the fuel gas system.
Heavy Naphtha is withdrawn at 146 deg C as the first draw off. It is stripped in a
stripper and cooled before it is sent to the storage.
The second draw off is ATF at 188 deg C. It is stripped and then cooled in feed
exchanger, steam generators followed by coolers before it is sent to the storage.
The third draw-off IS HSD at 286 deg C. It is also stripped in steam generator and
water cooler before it is sent to the storage.
The bottom of the fractionators is sent to the vacuum column via Pump. The bottom
temperature of the column is maintained at 377 deg C using a reboiler furnace. HSD
is withdrawn as aside cut of the vacuum column and blended with diesel from the
9

fractionators after cooling in exchanger and cooler. The bottom of the vacuum
column is feed for second stage reactor.

LIGHT ENDS RECOVERY SECTION:Light Naphtha from the fractionators is sent to the de-ethaniser, where gases are
removed and sent to the amine absorber where the H2S is absorbed in the amine
and the H2S free fuel gas is sent to the fuel gas system. Rich amine with dissolved
H2S is sent to Amine Regeneration Unit in Sulfur Recovery Unit Block. The bottom
of de-ethaniser is sent to de-butaniser, for the recovery of LPG. LPG is taken out
from the top and sent to treating section where it is washed with caustic for removal
of H2S. The stabilised Naphtha from the bottom of the be-butaniser is sent to the
Hydrogen Unit for the production of Hydrogen.

10

D.H.D.S UNIT
The demand for cleaner fuel has been an imminent need for the world. Cleaner fuel
implies the amount of sulphur S content in it. This sulphur causes emission of
noxious sulphur dioxide into atmosphere.
Gujarat Refinery has committed itself to produce HSD as per the stringent regulatory
norms. DHDS stands for Diesel Hydro Desulphurisation Unit.

The Unit was commissioned in 1999.

Aim of Unit:- To produce low sulphur diesel of 500 ppmw from a blend
consisting of SR LGO, SR LGO, SR GO and LCO having S level of 1.46%
by weight. Other features of the unit are: Purpose:- To produce low sulphur diesel (<500 ppmw)
Licensor of process- M/S UOP, USA.
Capacity-1.44 MMTPA
Feedrate-208 m cube per hour at 100% capacity.
Feedstreams:- SR LGO,SR HGO, LCO, SR GO.

In 2005 shutdown, criterion catalyst replaced the old catalyst in both the reactors.
Also the capacity was increased to 1.7 MMTPA. In 2008, new ART catalyst were
used for first cycle length.
The hydrotreating of any hydrocarbon stream is done to achieve following
objectives:

Sulfur removal.
Nitrogen removal.
Aromatics saturation-Here it helps in increasing cetane rating of the diesel
fraction.
Olefin saturation.
Metals removal.
Cracking, which may not be desirable but occurs due to process severity, also
is achieved.
The diesel boiling range hydrotreatment is mainly done to achieve the S and
aromatic specification. For VGO and heavier fraction, hydrotreatment in
addition to S, N and aromatic saturation, metal removal, some cracking also
occurs.

11

PROCESS DESCRIPTION:The unit comprises of mainly four sections viz Feed section; Reactor section;
Separator/Compression section and the Fractionation section. The purpose and a
brief description of all are as under:-

Feed Section:In this section, sour diesel is received from the storage tank into a surge vessel after
passing through a feed filter. Feed filter removes the foreign particles that come
along with the feed. The surge drum provides sufficient surge volume to the feed
pump; NPSH to the feed pump and removes water coming with feed which gets
collected in the boot.

Reactor Section:Feed from feed pump splits into two identical exchanger trains and combine with
recycle gas. The entire combined feed gets preheated in the shell side if CombinedFeed Exchangers (CFE) trains and the gas-fired furnace to the reactor bed
temperature. The hot feed stream enters into two identical reactors R-01 & R-02,
installed in series. The desulphurization reaction takes place at around 350-390 deg
C temperature and the reaction is exothermic. Catalyst bed coking occurs above 380
deg C. Also with time, after SOR (Start of Run), temperature has to be increased
gradually to get the desired reaction rate.
Since the desulphurisation reaction is an exothermic reaction in nature, so an
increase in temperature profile down through the reactor bed shows that the
desulphurisation reaction is going on.
Quenching of the reaction mixture inside the reactors becomes critical to maintain a
forward rate. This is achieved by recycle gas inlet at the second bed inlet of R-01
and the first bed inlet of the reactor R-02 which controls the second bed inlet
temperature. All temperature readings are measured by thermocouples attached at
many points on a plane of the columns at various levels.
Reactor effluent is cooled at the tube-side of the CFE and then gets collected in the
High Pressure Separator vessel. Wash water is injected to dissolve the H2S forms
during the reaction and to prevent precipitation of salt inside the tubes, which is
formed due to the reactions. These salts get dissolved in the water, which is
collected into the vessel boot as sour water, and then sent to SRU for stripping.

12

SEPARATOR/COMPRESSION SECTION:The recycle gas ( containing unutilised H2 gas & H2S formed during the reaction)
gets separated in the vessel and cooled in the recycle gas water cooler. The purpose
of cooling is to reach the dew point of the Hydrocarbons present in the recycle gas
which will condense and will therefore not cause foaming of amine, during amine
treating of the recycle gas, resulting in loss of operation of recycle gas scrubber. The
H2S gets absorbed in lean amine coming from ARU. The H2S rich amine is routed to
the SRU from the bottom of the column.
Recycle gas from the top goes into the suction of the Recycle Gas Reciprocating
Compressor after combining with the make-up gas from the make-up gas
compressor via RGC suction Knockout drum. The purpose is to provide new
hydrogen to make-up for the converted hydrogen in the reactor.

STRIPPER COLUMN:The purpose of this section is to remove the dissolved H2S from the diesel along
with removal of low boiling cracked hydrocarbons (a result of severity of conditions in
the reactors) in the form of wild-naphtha (routed to AU-I & AU-II K5 column-naphtha
stabilisers) and volatile hydrocarbon in the form of fuel-gas.
Liquid hydrocarbon from the High-Pressure separator and slop oil are heated in the
exchangers upto 240 deg C and enter into the stripper column. Mild Pressure steam
is used as stripping stream. By adjusting the operating parameters of the column,
required flash point of diesel can be achieved.

By increasing the column inlet temperature, reducing column top pressure

and increasing the flow of the stripping steam, flash point can be increased,
but wild-naphtha generation will also be enhanced.
By reducing the column top temperature, wild naphtha generation can be
decreased

STRIPPER COLUMN OVERHEAD SECTION:Vapours from the top of the column get condensed in the overhead fin cooler and
water-cooler and gets collected in the overhead receiver. Sour water from the boot of
the receiver gets transferred to the SRU unit.

Uncondensed gases containing H2S and volatile

hydrocarbon gases go to amine treating column via Knock-out drum where any
entrained liquid hydrocarbon gets removed from the gas stream. Gases from the
13

KOD enters in C-03 stripper column. Here H2S gets absorbed in lean amine and
H2S rich amine goes to SRU Unitby the column bottom pump. Overhead H2S free
hydrocarbon gases passes through another KOD V-08 to remove any entrained
amine and then goes to flare header via pressure controller.

STRIPPER COLUMN BOTTOM SECTION:Diesel from the bottom of the column C-02 is transferred to OM&S tanks by pump,
after cooling upto 40 deg C in tube-side heat exchangers and air fin-cooler & shell
side of water-cooler placed in series and after removing the water from the product
diesel in diesel coalescer and salt drier . The sour water from the coalescer is routed
in SRU through sour water pump.
In winter season (Nov-Feb), in order to maintain sweet diesel pour point between 0-3
deg C, PPP solution doping is carried out.

14

CATALYTIC REFORMING UNIT(CRU):Octane number and its importance in the motor-spirit fuel is a very important aspect
of Refineries worldwide.
Catalytic reforming unit of Gujarat refinery was designed and commissioned with
Russian collaboration in October, 1966. The designed capacity of the unit was 0.3
MMTPA. Over a period of time Russian catalyst was changes to Engle Hard catalyst
RD150 &RD150C series and subsequently to Engle Hard E-301/E-302 catalyst.
Again under revamp in 1990 the reformer catalyst was changed from monomettalic
to bimetallic (CK-433 of Ketjen of Netherlands). The new catalyst is very sensitive to
impurities like Sulphur, Nitrogen, Water, Heavy metals etc. Therefore a new
pretreater unit has been set up to remove above impurities to the level specified for
the reformer catalyst. Hydrodesulphurisation catalyst KF-742 of Ketjen of Netherland
is used in the pretreater.
Naphtha of two cut ranges i.e 70-90 deg C and 110-140 deg C cut is processed
separately in blocked out operation to produce the reformate specific for BTX
recovery, respectively.

THEORY:PRETREATMENT:Hydrotreating catalysts normally contains cobalt-molybdenum oxides

and nickel-molybdenum oxides. Structurally hydrotreating catalyst may be defined as
a porous-Al2O3 supporrt which carries molybdenum oxide as a bound monolayer.
Cobalt or nickel promoter ions are deposited onto the surface of molybdenum
alumina structure.
Hydrotreating
reactions are predominantly of two types: Hydro-desulphurisation:-Metal oxides of catalyst are sulfided to convert them
to metal sulfides which when contacted with organic sulphur make H2S and
hydrocarbons. If catalysts are not sulfided then an irreversible reaction of
metal oxides with hydrogen will occur at higher temperatures and activity of
the catalysts will plunge.
Ethanethiol + H2

Ethane + H2S (exothermic)

Diethylsulphide + H2

Ethane + H2S (exothermic)

15

2-3 molecules of hydrogen are consumed per atom sulphur removed. The
reaction rate for each compound decreases with its molecular weight. In
general sulphur present in an aromatic compound is more difficult to remove.
Hydro-denitrogenation:- It occurs simultaneously with hydro-desulphurisation.
Nitrogen containing compounds are converted to saturated hydrocarbons and
ammonia.
Pyridine + 5H2

n-Pentane + NH3

Quinoline + 4H2

Propylbenzene + 2NH3

In practice an average of 4 molecules of hydrogen are consumed per atom of

nitrogen.
Hydrogenation of aromatics:- Although it is not desired in most cases some
hydrogenation of aromatics will occur in hydrotreating process.
Benzene + 3H2

Cyclohexane

Hydrogenation of Olefins:- Olefins formed during cracking or present in feed,

are instantaneously saturated with hydrogen.
Pentene + H2

Pentane

REFORMING:Reforming process is
carried out at relatively high temperature and pressure by passing the Naphtha
feedstock over a bed of catalyst. The catalyst loaded in CRU reactors is CK-433 og
Ketjen Netherland, which contains
0.3%Platinum
0.3% Rhenium
Typical operating conditions of the reformer are:Reactor inlet temperature

= 501-516 deg C

Reactor pressure

= 16.0 kg/cm2g

In the reforming process, structures of hydrocarbons molecules are rearranged to

form more of higher octane aromatics.

16

Reactions involved are of five types which occur during reforming:1.

2.
3.
4.
5.

Aromatisation of naphthenes and paraffins.

Isomerisation of naphthenes and paraffins.
Hydro cracking.
Hydrogenation of olefins.
Desulfurization.

1. Aromatization Of Naphthenes & Paraffins

A) Dehydrogenation of Naphthenes
C6H12
Cyclohexane

C6H6 + 3H2
Benzene

The dehydrogenation reaction are highly endothermic and cause a decrease in

temperature the reaction proceeds. They have the highest reaction rates and they
occur mostly in the first two reactors.

B) Dehydrocyclization of Paraffins
C6H14
n-Hexane

+ H2

+ 3H2

Cyclohexane

Benzene

This reaction is also endothermic and has low reaction rate.

2. Isomerisation Of Naphthenes & Paraffins

A) Isomerisation Of Naphthenes
CH3

Methyl Cyclopentane

Cyclohexane
17

B) Isomerisation of Paraffins

n-Heptane

Iso-heptane

These reactions are fairly rapid. The heat effects of Isomerization are very small.

3. Hydrocracking

C10H22 + H2
n-Decane

C5H11CH3 + C4H10
Methyl
Butane
Pentane

C8H18 + H2
n-Octane

C3H8 + C5H10
Propane Pentane

These reactions are highly exothermic. They are relatively slow reactions and
therefore most of the hydrocracking occurs in the last two reactions. Hydro cracking
of straight chain paraffins result in Octane improvement but hydrocracking of
Naphthenes will reduce the Naphthenes potential used for conversion in Aromatics.

4. Hydrogenation Of Olefins
Olefins formed during cracking or present in feed are instantaneously saturated with
Hydrogen.

C5H10 + H2
Pentene

C5H12
n-pentane

5. Desuphurisation:-

+ 5H2

H2S

C4H10

S
Thiophin

Butane
18

C) Thermodynamics, Reaction Equilibrium & Reaction Rates

In reforming, endothermic reactions are dominant and the net result is considerable
drop in temperature of the reaction mixture, as it passes through the catalyst bed. An
increase in temp. increases the rate of all reactions. The reduction in temp. will
reduce the reaction rates such that the conversion would cease, if no additional heat
will be supplied to the reactants.
Some of the reforming reactions are slow reactions, which require more residence
time. Therefore the catalyst is placed in a number of Reactors. The reaction mixture
picks up heat from the furnace before entering each reactor for maximum
conversion.
In a reversible reaction, for a given value of temp and pressure, not more than a
certain conversion can be reached, even if, the reactants are kept under the reaction
conditions for infinite time.
To shift the reaction in forward direction either temp is to be increased or H2 partial
pressure is to be decreased to have maximum conversion. As decrease in pressure
may lead to coke formation on the catalyst, hence instead of reducing the system
pressure, reactor inlet temp is increased.
REFORMING CATALYST:Function of the constituents:The catalyst loaded in the reformers is bimetallic catalyst having 0.3% Pt, 0.3% Re &
0.7-1.0% wt. Chlorides.
The metal is evenly distributed in the form of very small crystals on an alumina
based material that has thousands of microscopic pores.

Platinum metal acts as dehydrogenation agent.

Rhenium decreases the rate of coke formation by hydrogenation of
coke precursors on the catalyst surface. It is deactivation inhibitor.
The chloride content of catalyst helps in promoting the isomerisation
and hydrocracking reactions.

19

PROCESS FLOW DESCRIPTION (CRU)

PRETREATER:The fresh feed naphtha coming from feed tank through the pump is mixed with the
recycle gas. This reactor feed is pre-heated in the feed effluent heat exchanger and
finally heated up to the reaction temperature (305-3350C) in the furnace
Desulphurisation and denitrification reaction take place in the Reactor. The reactor
effluent is cooled first in the feed effluent exchanger and finally in the water cooled
exchanger.

Liquid and vapour phases are separated in the drum. A part of vapour is purged to
remove light gases from the system and the remaining hydrogen rich stream is
recycled to make up for the loss of hydrogen and to maintain hydrogen partial
pressure at the desired level in the reactor, a certain amount of make-up gas is
drawn from the Reformer Section. The mixture of recycle gas and the make-up gas
is compressed in the compressor & is added to the fresh naphtha feed. A knock out
drum 21-V-02 is provided at the compressor suction to minimize entrainment, of
liquid droplets to compressor suction.

The liquid from the separator is heated by the stripper bottoms in the feed bottoms
exchanger and is fed to stripper to remove H2S and other lighter components. Reboiling heat is supplied by a furnace. The overhead vapours from stripper are cooled
in water cooler. The vapour rich in H2 and H2S is sent to the fuel gas system. Any
water collected in the boot is drained on level control. The amine is prepared in a
dosing tank and is mixed with DM water at the injection point.

The pre-treated naphtha is pumped to the Reformer unit after exchanging heat with
the stripper feed in exchanger. Provision is there to send Pre-treated Naphtha to
Slop or Storage tank through cooler

REFORMER:The pre-treated stabilised naphtha is pumped by pumps and mixed with the recycle
gas coming from. The two phase mixture of combined feed enters the shell side of
20

working in series and heated by the reactor effluent flowing on the tube side.
Preheated feed then enters convection side of furnace. It then gets further heated in
coil followed by coil where it is heated to a reaction temp of 501/5060C and
introduced into the first reactor (R -1). Reactions being endothermic, the reactor
outlet temp will drop. This stream is again heated to the reaction temp of 501/506 in
a inter-heater and fed to a second reactor (R-2).

In this reactor also outlet temp will drop. Reactor outlet product is again heated up to
reaction temperature. Inter-heater- II and fed to the reactors R-3 & R-4 working in
parallel.

Part of the reactor effluent from the reactor R-3 & R-4 is sent to the stabiliser reboiler
T-8 and again joins the rest of the effluent after exchanging heat in. The effluent
mixture then enters the tube side of working in series. The effluent is further cooled
in water cooler in series.

The water-cooled effluent ex flows to product separator where liquid and gas phases
gets separate. The gas flows to second separator where any liquid carryover is
knocked off. Part of the gas from is diverted to fuel gas, maintaining system pressure
at 16.0 to 18.0 kg/cm2g. The rest of the gas is compressed in recycle gas
compressor and recycled back, keeping specified mole ratio. A part of compressed
gas is diverted to Pretreater unit as make up gas.

The liquid from separator is preheated in feed / bottom exchanger and fed to the
Stabiliser column. Stabiliser column removes any lighter hydrocarbons formed by
cracking or may be present in the feed for example LPG fraction and small amount
of off-gases. Stabilised reformate from the bottom of the reformate is cooled in and
water cooler and sent to MS Tank in OM&S via line no-45 during MS run, to UDEX
feed tanks during BT run, to K-8 Column in AU-2 rerun section during combined
mode operation to further separation of BT reformate and MS component.
Furnaces for re-boiler section of the Stripper and the Pretreater are natural draft and
fuel oil fired. Fuel oil fired furnaces require regular soot-blowing by steam in the
convection zone of the furnace. This is because soot formed due to improper burning
of fuel oil tends to settle over the tubes for heat transfer and reduce the Heat transfer
efficiency. Soot-blowing is done twice everyday by the field operators.

21

ATMOSPHERIC DISTILLATION UNIT I & II

Introduction:Atmospheric Distillation Unit No. 1 & 2 were designed to process 1.0 MMTPA of
Ankleshwar Crude. They were commissioned on 15-10-1965 & 25-9-1966
respectively. Due to decline in Ankleshwar Crude availability, AU-II was revamped to
process North Gujarat Crude.

At various stages AU-I & II were revamped to increase their processing

capacity to 1.4 and 1.8 MMTPA respectively.
Heater replacements in AU-I & II were carried out in April 1985 & August 1985
respectively.
Unit revamp to increase capacity of AU-I & II to 2.0 & 2.2 MMTPA respectively
was done in April 1988.

Atmospheric Units AU-I & II consist of Electrostatic Desalter, Preflash tower

K-1, Main Fractionator K-2, ATF and HSD stripper K-3, Naphtha Stabiliser K5 & Rerunning section or Naphtha splitters ( K-8, K-9, K-10).
Function of plant:After revamp AU-I now processes ANK:NG Crude in 70:30 ratio whereas AU-II shall
process Ankleshwar, North Gujarat & Bombay High Crude in any proportion.
Various Products from the unit are:I.
II.

III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.

LPG.
IBP-60 cut- Blending component or

IBP-70 cut- Naphtha component.

Light charge stock (70-90 deg C cut) Feed for Aromatic run in CRU.
Heavy charge stock (90-110 deg C cut) Feed for MS Operation in CRU.
ATF-Aviation Turbine Fuel.
SK-Superior Kerosene or LABFS (Linear Alkyl Benzene Feed Stock).
HSD (High Speed Diesel) Normal or Navy HSD or Army HSD.
LSHS (Low Sulphur Heavy Stock).

North Gujarat Crude has 63.82% by volume of Residue at 370 deg C boiling point
which makes it the toughest among three types of crude to process. Ankleshwar
and Bombay High Crudes have 22.91% and 31.0% of their volume as residue at
370 deg C BP in them respectively.

22

PROCESS DESCRIPTION:-

Crude preheated upto 140 deg C (Desalting temperature) with ATF, HSD,
Kerosene and RCO. Desalting water, preheated by the heat exchanger against
desalter effluent is injected into the crude at desalter inlet.
ELECTROSTATIC DESALTER:Crude enters for removal of salt & water at the bottom section of the desalter
through an inlet distributor. Crude is initially mixed with adequate amount of DM
water (3%) with the help of a mixing valve. Recommended pressure drop across
the mixing valve is 0.5 to 0.7 kg/cm2. Adequate settling time is allowed to break
the oil water emulsion and the salt water to settle down the desalter. The
desalted crude is withdrawn with the help of outlet crude collecter mounted on the
topmost part inside the desalter. The separated effluent water with dissolved salt
is drawn through the interface level controller and exchanges heat wit the DM
Water. Effluent water is then drained through the flash drum. Interface level is
maintained around 25%. The exact interface level for efficient desalting will
depend upon the salt content and the appearance of the effluent water. Two nos
of 100% safety valves at 19 kg/cm2 are provided which are located in K-1. In
case of excess pressure those safety valves release pressure to column K-1
below tray no.1. Due to lower temperature of crude from the desalter close watch
is to kept to avoid reduction in K-1 bottom temperature and subsequently lighter
material going to column K-2.

The desalted crude picks up additional heat by further heat exchange with ATF,
diesel CR and RCO, in AU-I whereas with HSD CR, RCO, HSD and RCO in AUII before it enters the Preflash column K-1.
The Preflash column has 9 trays below and 19 trays above the flash zone. Reboil
heat is supplied to column K-1 by one cell of the twin cell heater F-1. The
overhead vapours are condensed in condenser and collected in reflux drum E-1.
A part of the E-1 gasoline is sent to the stabiliser K-5 while the rest is returned to
column K-1 as reflux. The bottom product from K-1 is further heated and
vapourised in furnace F-1 ( K-2 side) and is introduced into the flash zone of main
fractionator K-2.
Six stripping trays are provided below the flash zone where the reduced crude is
steam stripped to remove the lighter constituents. The stripping section vapours
23

together with the vapourised portion of the feed are fractionated on the trays
above the flash zone to yield liquid side products and vapour iverhead streams.
HSD is withdrawn as the first side stream from the 14th tray along with HSD CR.
The product stream enters the stripper K-3. No stripping of the product is carried
out as it meets the flash point requirement without stripping. The HSD and HSD
CR are cooled by heat exchanger with crude before it is routed to
storage/returned to the fractionator respectively.
Kerosene and Kero CR are withdrawn from the 26th tray. They are cooled by heat
exchanger with crude after which the circulating reflux is returned to K-2 and the
product is cooled and sent to the storage.
ATF is withdrawn from the 34th tray and after exchanging heat with the crude is
further cooled and srnt to storage. In AU-II ATF caustic wash & water wash
facility is provided which also caters to the requirement of AU-III.
The overhead naphtha vapours are condensed in the condenser and collected in
E-2 reflux drum. E-2 gasoline is partly sent to the naphtha Splitter K-7 and the
balance is returned to K-2 as reflux.
The stripped RCO from the K-2 bottom exchanges heat with crude and is then
cooled in coolers before sending to the storage.
Unstabilised gasoline (E-1 gasoline) is sent to the stabiliser K-5 along with CRU
drag stream. It is preheated by successive heat exchange with RCO and K-5
bottom in AU-I whereas with K-9 bottom and K-5 bottom in AU-II. The overhead
from K-5 is condensed and a part is withdrawn as LPG and the rest is sent to
column as reflux. The reboil heat to K-5 is supplied by circulating part of K-5
through furnace F-2. Stabilised naphtha from K-5 after preheating stabiliser feed
is routed to K-7.
NAPHTHA RERUN SECTION:The feed to K-7 consists of the following streams:I.
II.
III.
IV.

K-5 bottoms after feed preheating K-5 feed.

E-2 gasoline from K-2.
AU-II Naphtha from AU-III.
Bombay High Naphtha from OM&S.

The quality of BH Naphtha is varied so as to maintain total K-7 feed flow of 60

MT/hr. Last three streams are combined and preheated in T-8 by heat exchange
with the K-9 bottom in AU-I & IPCL Naphtha in AU-II. In AU-I the preheated
naphtha is heated in T-2E with IPCL naphtha from K-10, alongwith K-5 it enters
K-7. Whereas in AU-II preheated streams ex T-8 joins the K-5 bottoms and
combined stream is preheated by heat exchanger T-5 with RCO before entering
24

K-7. The overhead vapours are condensed in reflux condenser. A part of liquid is
sent to storage while the rest is sent to K-7 as reflux.
The bottom product from K-7 is directly sent to the K-8 column which is reboiled
by furnace F-4. The 70-90 deg C cut naphtha is recovered in the condenser T16A/B then enters E-8. A part from E-8 is sent as reflux to column K-8 and rest is
sent to rundown as Light Charge Stock.
The bottom product is sent to column K-9 is reboiled by furnace F-5. 90-110 deg
C cut naphtha is recovered as the overhead product by condensing the vapour in
condensersT-17A/B/C in AU-I and E-206 A/B in AU-II. The rest of the condensed
vapours are returned to the column K-9 as reflux. 110-140 deg C cut IPCL
naphtha is withdrawn as a side stream and is sent to IPCL Naphtha stripper K-10.
Reboil duty for K-10 is provided by T-10 in which MP Steam is used as heating
medium. IPCL naphtha is withdrawn from T-10. In AU-I IPCL naphtha exchanges
heat with K-7 feed in T-2E and is cooled in cooler T-26 whereas in AU-II it
exchanges heat with K-7 feed in T-8 and is cooled in cooler T-26. IPCL naphtha
after cooling is sent to the storage.
In AU-I the K-9 bottom stream preheats stabiliser feed in T-8 and is cooled in T27. Whereas in AU-II it exchanges heat with K-7 feed in E-206 and is cooled
before it is injected in SK or HSD.

25

FCCU
(FLUIDIZED CATALYTIC CRACKING UNIT)

Introduction:Catalytic cracking breaks complex hydrocarbons into simpler molecules in order to

increase the quality and quantity of lighter, more desirable products and decrease
the amount of residuals. This process rearranges the molecular structure of
hydrocarbon compounds to convert heavy hydrocarbon feedstock into lighter
fractions such as kerosene, gasoline, LPG, heating oil, and petrochemical feedstock.
Catalytic cracking is similar to thermal cracking except that catalysts facilitate the
conversion of the heavier molecules into lighter products. Use of a catalyst (a
material that assists a chemical reaction but does not take part in it) in the cracking
reaction increases the yield of improved-quality products under much less severe
operating conditions than in thermal cracking. Typical temperatures are from 850950 F at much lower pressures of 10-20 psi. The catalysts used in refinery cracking
units are typically solid materials (zeolite, aluminum hydrosilicate, treated bentonite
clay, fullers earth, bauxite, and silica-alumina) that come in the form of powders,
beads, pellets or shaped materials called extrudites.

There are three basic functions in the catalytic cracking process:

1. Reaction: Feedstock reacts with catalyst and cracks into different hydrocarbons;
2. Regeneration: Catalyst is reactivated by burning off coke; and
3. Fractionation: Cracked hydrocarbon stream is separated into various products.
The three types of catalytic cracking processes are fluid catalytic cracking (FCC),
moving-bed catalytic cracking, and Thermofor catalytic cracking (TCC). The catalytic
cracking process is very flexible, and operating parameters can be adjusted to meet
changing product demand. In addition to cracking, catalytic activities include
dehydrogenation, hydrogenation, and isomerization.

26

Brief description:The most common process is FCC, in which the oil is cracked in the
presence of a finely divided catalyst which is maintained in an aerated or fluidized
state by the oil vapors. The fluid cracker consists of a catalyst section and a
fractionating section that operate together as an integrated processing unit. The
catalyst section contains the reactor and regenerator, which, with the standpipe and
riser, forms the catalyst circulation unit. The fluid catalyst is continuously circulated
between the reactor and the regenerator using air, oil vapors, and steam as the
conveying media.
A typical FCC process involves mixing a preheated hydrocarbon charge
with hot, regenerated catalyst as it enters the riser leading to the reactor. The charge
is combined with a recycle stream within the riser, vaporized, and raised to reactor
temperature (9000 to
10000 F) by the hot catalyst. As the mixture travels up the riser, the charge is
cracked at 10-30 psi. In the more modern FCC units, all cracking takes place in the
riser. The reactor no longer functions as a
reactor; it merely serves as a holding vessel for the cyclones.

This cracking

continues until the oil vapours are separated from the catalyst in the reactor
cyclones. The resultant product stream (cracked product) is then charged to a
fractionating column where it is separated into fractions, and some of the heavy oil is
recycled to the riser.
Spent catalyst is regenerated to get rid of coke that collects on the catalyst during
the process. Spent catalyst flows through the catalyst stripper to the regenerator,
where most of the coke deposits burn off at the bottom where preheated air and
spent catalyst are mixed. Fresh catalyst is added and worn-out catalyst removed to
optimize the cracking process.
FEED:-The fluidized catalytic cracking unit catalytically cracks the vacuum gas oil
from VDU and FPU to various high priced hydrocarbons.

27

PRODUCT:-

1.

Fuel gas

2.

liquefied petroleum gas

3.

Gasoline of High Octane number

4.

Heavy Naphtha

5.

Light Cycle Oil

6.

Clarified Oil

HCO also taken as Side cut but most of it part used as a circulating
reflux
Summary of process:-

A modern UOP designed Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Unit consists of three

sections:
a.

Catalyst Section

b.

Fractionation Section

c.

Gas Concentration Section

CATALYST SECTION:The Catalyst Section consists of the Reactor and Regenerator, which, together with
the Stand Pipes and Riser, form the Catalyst Circulation System. The catalyst
circulates up the Riser to the Reactor, down through the Stripper to the Regenerator
across the Regenerator Standpipe, and back to the Riser.
Fresh feed and recycle streams, known as Combined Feed, are vaporized and
heated to the reactor temperature by the hot catalyst. This mixture of oil vapour and
catalyst travels up the Riser into the Reactor. The gas oil commences to crack
immediately when it contacts the hot catalyst in the Riser and continues until the oil
vapours are disengaged from the catalyst in the Reactor. The cracked products in
the vapour phase go from Reactor to the fractionators through Reactor Vapour line.
28

Coke is deposited on the circulating catalyst in the reaction zone. Spent catalyst
flows from the Reactor to the Regenerator where coke is burnt off with controlled
combustion air. The heat of combustion raises the catalyst temperature to 640 660
o

C range. This hot catalyst supplies heat to the reactor.

FRACTIONATION SECTION:
In the fractionation section, the Reactor vapours are fractionated into Wet Gas,
Unstabilized Gasoline, Heavy Naphtha, Light Cycle Oil (LCO), Heavy Cycle Oil
(HCO) and Clarified Oil (CLO).

GAS CONCENTRATION SECTION:

Compressed Wet Gas and Unstabilized Gasoline go to Gas Concentration Unit

where they are separated into Fuel Gas, LPG & Stabilized Gasoline, LPG and
Gasoline are washed with caustic in the treating section of Gas Concentration Unit.
Amine treatment of LPG is done prior to caustic wash .For the convenience of
description, process flow of the entire unit can be divided into six sections;
The function of GCU is to separate lean gas, LPG and stabilized gasoline from
unstabilized gasoline and wet gases obtained from main fractionators overhead
drum.
This unit consists of:1. Knock out drum for separation of liquid from lean gases which are then sent to
gas compressors
2. Two stage gas compressors steam and motor driven.
3. High pressure receiver
The mixture of gases, liquid hydrocarbons and wash water flows to High
Pressure Receiver after passing through HP trim cooler. Following streams
emerge from HP receiver:
-Sour water:
Sour water collected in a vessel flows under system pressure to the sour
water stripper.
-Gas:
The rich gas goes to Primary Absorber.

29

-Gasoline:
Unstabilized gasoline is pumped to stripper.
4. Primary absorber
It separates propane, propylene, butane and butylenes from rich gas
by the method of absorption. Absorption medium used is unstabilized
gasoline from and stabilized gasoline
5. Sponge absorber
It recovers the valuable LPG components from the gas, which were
not absorbed. The absorption medium is LCO from main fractionating
column.
6. Stripper
The function of this column is to strip off the light ends (Lighter than
propane and propylene) and bulk of H2S that is present in the unstabilized
gasoline.
7. Debutanizer
The function of this column is to strip off the light ends (Lighter than
propane and propylene) and bulk of H2S that is present in the unstabilized
gasoline.
8. Amine absorber
The function of this column is to remove hydrogen sulphide from LPG.

i.

Feed Pre-heat Section

ii.

Catalyst Section

iii.

Fractionation Section

iv.

Gas Concentration Section

v.

Caustic Treatment Section

vi.

Steam Generation Section

30

REACTOR:-

The combined feed meets with hot catalyst from regenerator at the bottom of reactor
riser. The resulting catalyst-oil vapour mixture is raised to the desired reaction
temperature by using sensible heat of catalyst. Almost total cracking reaction takes
place in the riser. Residence time in the riser is around 3-5 seconds. Lift steam is
also introduced at the bottom of the riser through flow controller to lift the catalyst/oil
mixture inside the riser.
The oil vapours disengage from the catalyst as soon as they leave the VSS (Vortex
Separator System) and leave the reactor through 3 nos. single stage cyclone
separators suspended from reactor top head. The catalyst from the cyclones returns
to the dense phase of reactor, through cyclone dip legs.
REACTOR STRIPPER:Catalyst descending from the reactor passes through the stripper, which surrounds
the upper portion of the riser. Catalyst flows over the baffles counter current to the
rising stripping steam. The steam displaces oil vapour from the catalyst particles and
returns these vapours to the reactor. To increase the stripping efficiency, stripping
steam is provided at following points, Reactor dome steam also provided at the top
of reactor to avoid coking inside dome area and purging of this area during start up.
The spent catalyst leaves the stripper through reactor standpipe to the regenerator.
A slide valve (SCSV), which is located on this standpipe and is reset by level
controller either ) controls the level of the catalyst in the reactor. An expansion joint
on the standpipe accommodates the relative expansion of reactor and regenerator.
REGENERATOR:In the process of cracking in the riser / reactor, coke deposition takes place on the
catalyst surface. With the result, the active surfaces of catalyst reduce. To
regenerate the catalyst, the deposited coke is burnt off by air in the regenerator. The
atmospheric air is taken though a blower, at ambient conditions and discharged to
31

the regenerator at 220-250 oC. The excess air is vented to atmosphere . This c/v
controls the airflow through regenerator depending upon the cyclone temperature set
in the RMPC. The regenerated catalyst leaves the regenerator through the
regenerator standpipe. A slide valve (RCSV), which is reset , controls the
temperature of the reactor. An expansion joint is provided on this standpipe. The
regenerated catalyst goes to the bottom of the reactor riser and is lifted by the lift
steam/ VB naphtha. As the catalyst rises up the riser it mixes with the combined feed
and slurry recycle streams, which are injected through their respective nozzles. Thus
catalyst circulation is established between reactor and regenerator. Normal catalyst
circulation rate is 16-22 MT/minute.

32

OIL MOVEMENT AND STORAGE (OM&S):Gujarat Refinery of Indian oil Corporation Limited has a capacity to refine 12.75
million Mts. Per annum of crude oil. Types of crude handled in Gujarat Refinery:

Bombay High
Persian Gulf
North Gujarat- Cambay, Mehasana, Kalol, Navagam
South Gujarat- Ankleshwar, Gandhar , Nada
Mangla (High Sulphur)

OM & S Division of Gujarat Refinery is a part of Production Department. The offsite

facilities play an important role in maintaining the smooth and continuous operation
of the refinery. OM & S is mainly responsible for activities in offsite area.
OBJECTIVES:

To receive crude oil and uninterrupted supply to processing units after proper
accounting and tank operations, in environment friendly manner, keeping
internal customers satisfaction.
To receive intermediates and finished product streams ex units to prepare
quality product in a safe & environment friendly manner.
Timely supplying the quality product to marketing as per planning and
schedule to meet the market demand.

FUNCTIONS:

Receipt, storage, accounting, sampling of crude oil.

Crude & LABFS tank preparation and uninterrupted feeding to processing
units.
Receipt, storage, accounting of finished products and intermediates ex. Units
and blending of intermediates and blending of MS at blending station to make
HIGH QUALITY as EIV MS finished products with minimum quality give away
and to delight customer and to protect environment.
Supply of intermediates (feed) to processing units.
Preparation of finished products tanks for dispatch. Sampling for quality.
Certificate and accounting.
Product dispatch by pipeline, T/W & TTL.
33

Unloading of trucks of different chemicals. e.g. Benzene

Preparation of tank for cleaning, inspection, repair & maintenance.

The OM & S Division consists of five main sections as listed below:1.

2.
3.
4.
5.

Receipt & Blending section.

Tank wagon Loading Section.
Tank Truck Loading Section (TTL).
Bitumen Filling Station.
LPG Section.

The modes of dispatches of finished products are as follows:

BY ROAD:In Tank Truck Loading, especially designed containers for bulk LPG, packed LPG
and Bitumen in trucks are loaded.
BY RAIL:In Tank Wagon Loading, packed LPG and Bitumen in Railway Wagons are loaded.
BY PIPELINES:To Sabarmati IOC installation near Ahmadabad, to GSFC, to IPCL, to HPCL and
BPCL installation at Nandesari, BPCL(OMC), and to GIPCL. The last four are next
door to Gujarat Refinery. LSBFS to NIRMA, HSD/MS to IOTL (dumad) HSD, MS, SK
to KNPL, KVSSPL and KDPL & KRPL.

STORAGE TANKS:All petroleum stocks from crude oil to its lightest volatile fraction must be stored
during the intervals between production, transportation, refining, blending and
marketing. Hence, for this purpose, different types of tanks and vessels to suit the
characteristics of the product to be stored are provided.
TYPES OF TANK:The storage tanks are mainly of three types:
1. Cone roof or fixed roof tanks for storing heavy products.
2. Floating Roof tanks for lighter products.
3. Floating cum fixed roof tanks.

34

4. Less volatile petroleum stocks are stored in floating roof tanks, highly
volatile liquids like LPG, 80 MT are stored in pressure vessels likespherical
(Horton sphere) or cylindrical (also known as bullets) Mounded Bullets.

BLENDING:When two or more different components are mixed together to produce a finished
product, the process is called blending.

Blending involves:a. Receiving of calculated quantities of components of known quality

b. Mixing of these components to produce a homogeneous product of uniform
density, satisfying all the required specifications.

Mixing of components can be done in the pipelines while transferring components

into a tank. This is called in-line blending. Another method generally employed in
receiving/transferring of known quantities of different components in to a tank. The
final mixture is made homogeneous with the help of tank mixing arrangement.
Types of blending:1. Online Blending
2. MS blending
3. HSD blending

35

LPG UNIT

LPG is basically mixture of butane & propane.(C3-C4)

It is heavier than air.
It is lighter than water.
It is highly flammable.
Produce from processing of petroleum under pressure in liquid state.
Density: 0.54-0.55 gm/cc
Vapour pressure: 7-8 kg/cm2 at 38oc.
It is order less. So Ethyl mercaptan added to detect leakage.
At normal LPG exists as vapour whereas it is in the liquid state when stored
under pressure in LPG storage vessel.

PRODUCTION IN IOCL: Straight run LPG produced from AU 1, 2,3,4,5, MTBE, HCU, MSQ and
cracked LPG produced from FCC Unit.
LPG is also recovered from the drag stream, produced in CRU by processing
the drag stream in the stabilizer column of AU 1 or AU 2.

SENSIBLE PROPERTIES:1. COLOUR(Sight):LPG is colourless so they can not seen. However when liquid LPG released
from a container or pipe, it vaporises almost immediately. This produces a
cooling of the surrounding air and may cause water vapour in the air to
condense, freeze and become visible.
2. ODOUR(Smell):LPG is order less so mercaptan is added into it. It is smell detectable in air at
concentration down to 1/5 of the lower limit of imflammability.
In other words it can be smelt sufficiently before it becomes dangerous enough to
catch fire.

36

IMPORTANT POINTS:1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

LPG is safe provided. It is kept within a properly designed and sealed system.
LPG becomes hazardous when released in atmosphere and mixed with air.
Leakage of product, especially liquid must be prevented.
Presence of air and water in LPG Systems must be eliminated.
Sources of ignition must be eliminated.
LPG containers must not be completed filled with liquid (limit up to 75%),
adequate vapour space must be left.
(When the container is completely filled with liquid LPG, there is no space for
vapour. Even slight rise in temperature will cause the liquid to expand and
exert an excess pressure on the container because liquid are practically noncompressible. Usually a relief valves on the container open to discharge liquid
and relive the pressure)
IPCL requires about 113000 MTPA of cracked LPG (PPFS) from refinery for
their polypropylene co-polymer plant. After recovering the required quantity of
polypropylene from the cracked LPG, they return about 86000 MTPA of lean
LPG (PPRS) to the refinery for blending in the SR LPG Pool.

IN REFINERY,
There are 14 mounded bullets. Which are underground and covered with
different layer of the sand and upper layer is covered with the small pebbles.
Capacities of first 3 bullets are 1500 MT and for remaining bullets capacity is
1200 MT.
There are 3 phases in the bullet.
1) Unstable gas.
2) LPG.
3) Caustic H2O.
Always maintain same level in all 14 bullets. So pressure is same in all
bullets. One VR Valve (safety valve) is provided at top of the bullet. When the
pressure is greater than 12 kg/cm2 (Maximum pressure= 12 kg/cm2) then
some gas or liquid goes to the flare. This maintains the pressure of the bullet.
LPG is withdrawn from second phase with help of the primary pump and then
more pressurised with help of booster pump and sent to the storage at
DUMAD CHOKDI.
In India, LPG cylinders are designed for vapour pressure of 16.87 kg/cm 2 at
65oC.
Caustic water is removed from the bottom.
Flame detectors are provided for each bullet for safety purpose.
If there is even a small flame detected, then flame detector closes all the
valves and water sprinklers gets started.

37

CONCLUSION

After completing my Industrial Training, following are the things which I

understood: Safety is foremost when we deal with severe conditions of
chemical industries. Gujarat refinery stringently adheres to safety
aspects of its workers and the processes.
Chemical processes should be profitable to a company and every
decision on its functioning is taken keeping that in mind. A sudden
decision is not always an apt one.
Refineries are vital to any countrys progress and equally a threat
to environment. All proper heat recovery and focus on less energy
loss is vital to its functioning. HRSG is one of many such steps.

38