Kochi: $400 million gas plant unveiling Monday
CM will inaugurate the plant based on build, own and operate basis, rated as the largest of its kind in the country.
Kochi: Along with the BPCL, Air Products, a New York-listed US firm, is all set to launch $400 million (Rs 2,560 crore) industrial gas complex in Kochi. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the plant based on build, own and operate (BOO) basis, rated as the largest of its kind in the country, on Monday. The Kochi industrial gas complex, capable of generating hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and steam is an integral component of the integrated refinery expansion project of the (IREP) of the BPCL-Kochi Refinery to manufacture auto-fuels complying with the Euro-IV and Euro-V specifications.
According to Richard Boocock, president, industrial gases, Middle East, India, Egypt and Turkey at Air Products, the technologically advanced plant has the latest safety features, reliability and environmental compliance. The gases produced at the Kochi site will help BPCL to enhance its refining capacity to 310,000 barrels per day from 190,000 barrels. Hydrogen is widely used in petroleum refining process to remove impurities found in crude oil such as sulphur, olefins and aromatics to meet product fuels specifications.
Removing these components allows petrol and diesel to burn cleaner and thus makes hydrogen a critical component in the production of cleaner fuels needed by modern, efficient internal combustion engines. The Kochi project is built on 15.5 acres of land leased from BPCL and executed by a team from four different countries, India, the UK, the Netherlands and the US. The plant construction took more than 10 million person-hours and was completed with no safety incidents.