Mumbai: Disinvestment-bound Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has flagged off Normal Butanol, the first parcel produced in the new Propylene Derivatives Petrochemical Complex at Kochi Refinery, on Friday, the company said in an official statement. It was virtually flagged off by Director (Marketing) Arun Kumar Singh, who also holds the additional charge of Director (Refineries) of BPCL. He also inaugurated the Petro Chemical Products Truck Loading Gantry. The first parcels of Normal Butanol was transported in ISO Containers to KLG Plasticizers, Silvassa, and Rachna Plasticizers, Silvassa, and in tank lorry to Visen Industries, Chennai. The product finds application in plasticisers, textile manufacture, impact modifiers for rigid PVC, amino resins and butyl amines.
The annual consumption of Normal Butanol, predominantly by plasticisers and automotive paint manufacturers, is 60-65 TMT annually in India, which was mostly imported till now. Kochi Refinery is equipped to produce 38 TMT annually, substituting the import of Normal Butanol. Senior Executives and other employees of BPCL, including Ravitej PV, Executive Director In-Charge (Refineries) and S Jena, Executive Director (I&C), joined the function virtually which was led by Sanjay Khanna, Executive Director (Kochi Refinery).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had dedicated the Propylene Derivatives Petrochemical Complex at Kochi Refinery earlier on February 14. The capital cost for setting up the complex was approximately Rs 6,000 crore. The design capacity of the complex is 1,80,000 MTPA Butyl Acrylate, 10,000 MTPA 2 Ethyl Hexyl Acrylate, 47,000 MTPA Acrylic Acid, 47,000 MTPA 2 Ethyl Hexanol and 38,000 MTPA Normal Butanol.
In a separate statement, BPCL said that it has recently re-routed a 48-kilometre section of the 252-kilometer-long, 18-inch diameter pipeline connecting the Mumbai Refinery with Manmad fuel installation. "Over the last 20 years when this pipeline was laid, infrastructural development, including residential buildings had come up around it, making it inaccessible for repairs and risk to the lives in the vicinity," said BPCL.
"This pipeline has truly been a lifeline for BPCL Mumbai Refinery as it evacuates more than 80 percent of diesel and petrol produced by the Refinery. Mumbai-Manmad Pipeline, over the years, has been extended up to Delhi, passing through Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi. It supplies petrol, diesel, kerosene etc to the interior of the country," it added.
Built at a cost of Rs 450 crore and generating 2,73,000 man-days of employment, the re-routed section was commissioned by BPCL's Director (Marketing) and Director (Refineries) on April 22.
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