Reliance Industries (RIl) has received environment clearance for the expansion and optimisation of its petrochemical complex at Nagothane in Raigad district of Maharashtra at an estimated cost of Rs 2,338 crore.

“The environment clearance has been given to the RIl's expansion and debottlenecking of petrochemical project at Nagothane,” a senior Environment Ministry official said.

  The approval, given based on the recommendations of an expert panel, is subject to compliance of certain conditions, the official said.

The proposal is to expand the gas cracker and downstream plants located at Nagothane village in Raigad district by way of debottlenecking, expansion and change of fuel in captive power plant (CPP) along with expansion and rebuilding of residential township. The cost of the proposed project, expected to be commissioned in stages, is estimated to be Rs 2,338 crore, the official added.

 As per the proposal, no additional land and manpower is required for the proposed project. It has 744 hectare land and 1,794 manpower at present.

The company manufactures wide range of products such as Ethylene Oxide, Ethylene Glycol, linear low Density High Density Polyethylene (llHDPE), Hexene-1 and others along with a gas-based CPP.

  Presently, RIl Nagothane uses a mixture of ethane and propane to produce downstream products and by-products. The proposal is to modify its feedstock ratio in its gas cracker plant owing to availability of imported shale gas ethane.

With the proposed change in feedstock mixture resulting in higher production of ethylene, the company wants to expand the capacities of downstream products/by-products to accommodate the increased ethyelene production.That apart, the company has proposed to enhance CPP capacity from 85 mw to 100 mw by way of refurbishing and also use ethane as a fuel owing to its economic viability and availability. Further, the proposed project also includes expansion of the existing township with additional residential apartments within the township area.