12-05-2021

Numaligarh refinery selects Unionfining™ technology from Honeywell UOP

Honeywell today announced Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), a public sector undertaking under the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, will use UOP technology to produce cleaner-burning diesel fuel in compliance with India’s BS-VI emission standards and increase crude oil conversion.

The Numaligarh Refinery Expansion Project (NREP) will facilitate economic development in the north-eastern states of India by expanding the region’s crude processing capacity from the present 3.0 million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA) to 9.0 MMTPA in Numaligarh, located in the Indian state of Assam.

The UOP Distillate Unionfining™ process will enable NRL to produce diesel that complies with India’s BS-VI emission standards, which were implemented last year. The process removes impurities to improve the quality of middle distillate feedstocks that meet increasingly stringent regulations for fuels such as diesel.

“This project with Numaligarh marks the first-ever UOP licensed process unit in an NRL refinery, and it’s the first grassroots diesel hydrotreating unit in India using a latest-generation UOP catalyst,” said Mike Banach, Managing Director, UOP India. “The Unionfining technology will help NRL increase crude processing capacity and comply with ever-stricter standards for diesel production.”

UOP Unionfining technology provides flexible solutions to gas oil conversion for ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel and kerosene production. UOP has licensed more than 370 Unionfining units globally.

The NREP expansion is part of the Government of India’s Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for the northeast Indian states. It also is integrated with a new crude oil pipeline from Paradip in Odisha to Numaligarh in Assam, and a product pipeline from Numaligarh to Siliguri in West Bengal where NRL has its own marketing terminal for product distribution.

NRL, one of the four refineries in oil- and gas-rich Assam, was set up at Numaligarh in Golaghat district of Assam in accordance with the provisions made in the historic Assam Accord signed on Aug. 15, 1985. It was created as a vehicle for speedy industrial and economic development of the region.