08-02-2021

Lummus announces high propylene Indmax FCC technology award

Lummus Technology today announced an award for its Indmax Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) technology from Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. (NRL), a subsidiary of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL). The Indmax FCC unit is part of NRL’s refinery expansion project, which will increase crude processing capacity from the current 3 MMTPA to 9 MMTPA at their facilities in Golaghat, Assam, India. Lummus is the global licensor of Indmax FCC technology, which is developed in collaboration with Research & Development Centre of Indian Oil Company Limited (IOCL R&D).
 
“We are grateful that NRL selected Lummus and Chevron Lummus Global as the licensors for their refinery expansion, which is a testament to the superior performance of our technology and the tremendous relationship we have,” said Leon de Bruyn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lummus Technology. “This award is also recognition of the industry’s confidence in our Indmax FCC technology as the world is shifting from fuels to petrochemicals, and it adds to our dominant market share in the high-propylene FCC arena both in India and worldwide.”
 
The scope for this project includes the technology license, basic engineering and related services. Once complete, the Indmax FCC unit will process 1.96 MMTPA of mixed hydrotreated VGO feed with flexibility to operate in gasoline mode as well as maximum propylene production mode. Lummus’ award is in addition to the recently announced LC-FINING technology award by Chevron Lummus Global, a joint venture between Chevron and Lummus, for the same project.

In 2020, Indmax FCC won the 2020 award for Best Refining Technology by Hydrocarbon Processing, a leading media organization for the downstream industry. Indmax FCC is a proven process to produce propylene, ethylene and butylenes in refineries directly from heavy residues. The Indmax FCC technology combines the proprietary and innovative Indmax catalyst and process concepts developed by the IOCL R&D, with state-of-the-art FCC technology and hardware design features of Lummus. The Indmax FCC technology is a unique solution for the vertical integration of refinery and petrochemical complexes in revamp or grassroots projects.