The Dehradun-based CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP) has managed to achieve success in the commercialisation and commissioning of three of its path-breaking technologies in a year - two of them being grass root units.
According to the ex-DG of CSIR and IIP scientist, MO Garg, the first technology to be commercialised and commissioned by CSIR-IIP during this year was the state-of-the-art grass roots Wax Plant at the Numaligarh Refinery in Assam.
With the annual production of 50,000 tonnes of high quality wax, Numaligarh/BPCl has already captured 55 per cent of the Indian market and also substantial portion of international market including that in Nepal and Kenya. This wax plant was dedicated to the nation on February 5 this year by prime minister Narendra Modi. The benzene recovery unit at Reliance refinery in Jamnagar in Gujarat is the second grass roots unit to go online during this year. First of its kind in the world, this unit recovers benzene from FCC gasoline to produce benzene-free gasoline while simultaneously producing pure benzene. Built at a cost of about Rs 500 crore, this is the first indigenous technology jointly developed by IIP and Reliance.
The third unit was successfully commissioned and the performance guarantee test run conducted at Indian Oil Corporation Refinery at Haldia. This unit uses an advanced technology to produce high quality fuel oil from a process called visbreaking. Other institute officials informed about the importance of the achievement of all the three indigenous technologies during the span of one year. Officials concerned from the private sector also spoke on the positive economic and societal impact of the technologies developed.