07-02-2020

Mathura Refinery edges towards 100% production of BS-VI Fuels

Bharat stage emission standards (BSES) are standards instituted by the Government of India to regulate the emissions of air pollutants from motor vehicles. The standards and the timeline for implementation are set by the Central Pollution Control Board under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Since October 2010, Bharat Stage (BS) III emission norms have been enforced across the country which  allowed Sulfur content in MS (petrol) & HSD (diesel) up to 150 ppm (parts per million) and 350 ppm respectively.

Emission norms were further tightened in the subsequent step in the form of BS-IV emission norms which were made effective from April' 2017. These norms allowed Sulfur in MS (petrol) & HSD (diesel) upto 50 ppm level.

As a major step towards reducing air pollution, in January 2016, Government of India (GOI), through a historic decision announced not only to skip the BS-V emissions norms but also decided to implement BS-VI norms on Pan - India basis w.e.f 1st April, 2020.  A deadline was also set for rolling out cleaner (BS-VI compliant) fuel across the National Capital Territory (NCT) by Apr'18 & National Capital Region (NCR) by Apr'19.

At a time when all the Indian refineries were producing BS-IV compliant fuels, IOCL Mathura Refinery was the first refinery to take up the challenge to meet the requirement of supplying NCT region with BS-VI compliant fuels (Sulphur - Less than 10 ppm) with its existing facilities/ units. Same was successfully done in January' 2018, well before the stipulated date and the supply of BS-VI compliant fuels ex Mathura Refinery, to NCT & NCR has continued since then.

Further, in order to upgrade the total production of MS (petrol) & HSD (diesel) produced at Mathura Refinery to meet the most stringent BS-VI norms, some revamp projects were taken up under the Quality Improvement Project (QIP). These included modifications in existing process units including Diesel hydro Desulphurisation unit (DHDS) and Gasoline hydro Desulphurisation unit (Prime-G). Now, IOCL Mathura refinery has successfully completed the project jobs and has successfully commissioned the revamped facilities in January'2020.

With the commissioning of these facilities, Mathura refinery is now supplying 100% of its MS (petrol) & HSD (diesel) meeting the BS-VI norms.

It is very important to note that with the change in fuel specifications from BS-IV to BS-VI in MS (Petrol) and HSD (Diesel) will bring down sulphur by 5 times which is a whopping 80 per cent reduction and would make environment substantially cleaner. We all will be breathing cleaner air which is a huge health advantage to public at large.