Essar Oil Ltd, a subsidiary of Essar Energy, today announced the successful commissioning of a new Isomerization (ISOM) Unit at its Vadinar Refinery.

The 0.7 MMTPA (million metric tonnes per annum) ISOM Unit is a key component of the Phase I expansion of the company’s Vadinar refinery that will increase its capacity to 18 MMTPA (300,000 barrels per day). Among the largest ISOM units in the world, the commissioning of this unit was completed in just 32 days (as against an industry average of 50-55 days), without compromising on safety. Naresh Nayyar, CEO-Essar Energy, said, “I am proud of my colleagues at the refinery. This achievement is testimony to their world-class expertise and demonstrates the concerted effort they are making to ensure that the expansion project is completed within schedule and budget.”

The ISOM Unit (Penex-DIH) is licensed by UOP, a Honeywell company that is one of the world’s leading licensors of technology for the petroleum refining industry. Tom McCollough, UOP’s startup specialist, said: “The Essar Oil team has done a fantastic job in preparing this unit for startup and subsequent commissioning. Though we don’t keep records of startup times clocked by our customers, this is certainly one of the fastest ever achieved. Feed cut in just 32 days—after Hydrogen was introduced in the unit—I am sure is a world record.”

The ISOM Unit is the first expansion unit to be fully commissioned, which means that it is now ready to start commercial production. Using Naphtha as its primary feed, the Vadinar Refinery’s ISOM unit will help produce Euro IV grade (see Note to Editors) gasoline of high octane rating and almost zero sulphur content. It is therefore a significant addition to the Vadinar Refinery, enabling Essar Oil to produce high grade gasoline that has wide acceptance both in the domestic and international markets.

The Vadinar refinery expansion project is very close to completion. Mechanical completion has been achieved for 27 new units and utilities that are being added as part of the expansion. Mechanical completion of the pending units—namely the DCU (Delayed Coker Unit), VGO-HT (Vacuum Gas Oil Hydrotreater) and a new SRU (Sulphur Recovery Unit)—is expected by the end of the month. Start-up activity of all new expansion units that have been mechanically completed so far has commenced, and they will be commissioned in a phased manner. Increased refinery throughput of 18 MMTPA will commence in the first quarter of CY 2012.

When completed, the Phase I expansion will increase the Vadinar Refinery’s capacity from 14 MMTPA (300,000 bpd) currently to 18 MMTPA (375,000 bpd), as well as increase its complexity from 6.1 currently to 11.8. An optimisation project is also under execution at the refinery to further increase the capacity to 20 MMTPA (405,000 bpd) by September 2012. The capacity expansion, complexity enhancement and subsequent optimisation will give the Vadinar refinery the capability to process nearly 87% ultra-heavy crudes, which are cheaper than light crudes. In terms of product yield, the expanded Vadinar Refinery will have the flexibility to produce higher value products, including pet coke.

To see the Vadinar refinery site