Business Wire India

Ridgewood, NJ based Dastur International, Inc. along with it’s affiliate companies Dastur Energy and MN Dastur & Co (P) Ltd. (Dastur) and The Woodlands, TX based Lummus Technology LLC (Lummus) have been awarded a USTDA funded study to evaluate the feasibility of petcoke gasification at the 15.5 mtpa Kochi (India) refinery of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL). Dastur will be the prime contractor for the project. The study will evaluate various options to arrive at the most appropriate and techno-economically viable project blueprint, and technology architecture for the gasification of petcoke produced at BPCL Kochi. It envisions enabling the production of value-added petrochemical products and clean fuels like hydrogen in a cost-competitive and sustainable manner.

BPCL Kochi is one of the largest refineries in India, producing over 1.2 mtpa of petcoke from its delayed coker unit. Given the likely regulatory restrictions surrounding petcoke in the near future, BPCL is looking at gasification as a way to convert petcoke into an environmentally friendly feedstock to produce value added clean energy products. The study is funded by United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), as part of its mission to promote the development of sustainable infrastructure projects and fostering economic growth in partner countries like India.

Murali Madhavan, Executive Director of BPCL Kochi, said, “Refinery capacity and output is rapidly growing in India. With the increasing use of heavier and sour crudes, sustainable utilization of petcoke from refineries is a concern. This project promises to reduce emissions by turning petcoke into a feedstock for producing value-added clean energy products based on gasification. We are excited to partner with Dastur and Lummus, given their proven experience and expertise in the area of gasification, clean energy and related low-carbon technologies.”

“USTDA has a long history of fostering connections between our Indian partners and innovative American companies in the oil and gas space,” said USTDA Acting Director, Thomas R. Hardy. “Our efforts are making a lasting difference and helping India meet its national energy goals.”

Atanu Mukherjee, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dastur, said, “The world is on the cusp of a massive energy transition. Refining and petrochemical companies have the unique opportunity to engineer low-emissions clean energy systems by utilizing refinery bottoms like petcoke. The BPCL project can be a forerunner of India’s vision on energy security and self-sufficiency by producing affordable clean fuels and products through gasification. I am delighted that Dastur will have the opportunity to apply its intellectual assets, experience and expertise for the BPCL project that also has the potential to lay the foundation for large scale gasification based clean energy complexes in India, and in other parts of the world.”

Leon de Bruyn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lummus Technology said, “Lummus and Dastur recently partnered to provide the conceptual design for a large-scale gasification project in the Middle East, and this project to optimize BPCL’s product portfolio from petcoke will strengthen our partnership. Lummus’ extensive technology portfolio in gasification, petrochemicals, refining, gas processing and carbon conditioning, along with Dastur’s experience in conceptualizing, designing and engineering large scale clean energy projects, makes us uniquely qualified to undertake this pioneering initiative for BPCL.”

Dastur will be deploying its teams across the US and India to execute the BPCL project. Dastur will draw upon it’s Austin, TX based affiliate Dastur Energy, for knowhow and operating frameworks around gasification, carbon engineering and low-carbon energy models to deliver a world class feasibility study for BPCL. Dastur Energy’s intellectual property and expertise in the areas of energy engineering, energy supply chains, energy economics, energy policy, low-carbon fuels and carbon capture, is used for conceiving and designing clean energy systems in oil, gas, petrochemicals, coal, steel, cement, power and other related industries.

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