 "Reliance-IIP jointly develop technology for benzene extraction from FCC light naphtha")
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP) has successfully developed and commercialised a technology to remove benzene from fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) light naphtha. RIL and IIP have jointly filed patent for this process, thus creating strong intellectual property (IP).
Reliance Industries has two of the world’s largest fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) units at Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat. The light naphtha produced from these units is the major contributor of benzene in the gasoline pool. Due to health and environmental concerns, there has been an increasing pressure on refiners around the world to reduce the amount of benzene and other hazardous air pollutants in the gasoline pool. In 2011, under Mobile Source Air Toxics (MSAT) gasoline fuel program, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in USA required refiners to meet an annual average gasoline benzene content standard of 0.62 volume percent (VP) for all of their gasoline, both reformulated and conventional, nationwide. It was evident that, in the near future, Europe and the rest of the world will also impose lower limits on benzene content in the gasoline.
Though technologies were available to remove benzene from FCC light naphtha, they had disadvantages such as high capital & operating expenditures; loss of value due to significantly lower benzene recovery and loss of octane barrel due to loss of high-octane olefinic compounds.
Besides, available extractive distillation technology that used solvent to extracts benzene from FCC light naphtha was not proven commercially. It is very challenging to extract benzene from light naphtha using solvent because of its rapid degradation by polymerisation in the presence of reactive species such as olefins and di-olefins, and contaminants such as sulphur, nitrogen, chlorides, oxygenates, etc.
In order to find a solution to this challenge, RIL and Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP) Dehradun in 2011 signed an agreement to co-develop an extractive distillation process using a robust solvent that will not degrade appreciably in the presence of difficult species and contaminants, and meet the targets such as 0.2 volume percentage benzene or less in raffinate (reurn stream to gasoline) and 99 volume percentage or higher benzene recovery (extracted and upgraded to cyclohexane grade benzene).
After several experiments in the laboratory and pilot plants, RIL-IIP team established that selected solvent is robust and meets the required performance criteria. Based on pilot plant data, process scale-up and process design optimisation was done. All this data and work was used to develop technical information package (TIP) containing the documents like simplified process flow diagram; heat & mass balance and preliminary data sheets for critical equipment. TIP was handed-over to Technip, who was selected as detailed engineering contractor (DEC) for this new process named Benzene Recovery Unit (BRU).
Reliance Industries did the construction and the commissioning of BRU. On May 23, 2016, the on-specification raffinate product (less than 0.2 volume percent benzene) was sent to storage for blending and sales.
Reliance Industries has two of the world’s largest fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) units at Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat. The light naphtha produced from these units is the major contributor of benzene in the gasoline pool. Due to health and environmental concerns, there has been an increasing pressure on refiners around the world to reduce the amount of benzene and other hazardous air pollutants in the gasoline pool. In 2011, under Mobile Source Air Toxics (MSAT) gasoline fuel program, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in USA required refiners to meet an annual average gasoline benzene content standard of 0.62 volume percent (VP) for all of their gasoline, both reformulated and conventional, nationwide. It was evident that, in the near future, Europe and the rest of the world will also impose lower limits on benzene content in the gasoline.
Though technologies were available to remove benzene from FCC light naphtha, they had disadvantages such as high capital & operating expenditures; loss of value due to significantly lower benzene recovery and loss of octane barrel due to loss of high-octane olefinic compounds.
Besides, available extractive distillation technology that used solvent to extracts benzene from FCC light naphtha was not proven commercially. It is very challenging to extract benzene from light naphtha using solvent because of its rapid degradation by polymerisation in the presence of reactive species such as olefins and di-olefins, and contaminants such as sulphur, nitrogen, chlorides, oxygenates, etc.
In order to find a solution to this challenge, RIL and Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP) Dehradun in 2011 signed an agreement to co-develop an extractive distillation process using a robust solvent that will not degrade appreciably in the presence of difficult species and contaminants, and meet the targets such as 0.2 volume percentage benzene or less in raffinate (reurn stream to gasoline) and 99 volume percentage or higher benzene recovery (extracted and upgraded to cyclohexane grade benzene).
After several experiments in the laboratory and pilot plants, RIL-IIP team established that selected solvent is robust and meets the required performance criteria. Based on pilot plant data, process scale-up and process design optimisation was done. All this data and work was used to develop technical information package (TIP) containing the documents like simplified process flow diagram; heat & mass balance and preliminary data sheets for critical equipment. TIP was handed-over to Technip, who was selected as detailed engineering contractor (DEC) for this new process named Benzene Recovery Unit (BRU).
Reliance Industries did the construction and the commissioning of BRU. On May 23, 2016, the on-specification raffinate product (less than 0.2 volume percent benzene) was sent to storage for blending and sales.
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