Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) has commissioned the last of three crystallization trains as part of the Phase 3 expansion project at its integrated 60 million-tonne/year refining and petrochemical complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat, India (OGJ Online, Feb. 26, 2015).
Configured with crystallization technology from BP PLC, Train 3 of Jamnagar’s paraxylene complex entered operation on June 9, bringing the plant to its full 2.2 million-tpy capacity and more than doubling RIL’s total paraxylene production to 4.2 million tpy, the operator said.
Startup of Train 3 follows previous commissioning of the complex’s Trains 1 and 2 in December 2016 and April 2017, respectively.
With the plant now at full capacity, RIL has become the world’s second largest paraxylene producer with about 11% of global production, the company said.
Designed to increase RIL’s petrochemical production by integrating and using feedstock from its Jamnagar refining operations, the J3 project also includes ongoing commissioning activities for an off-gas cracker expansion and gasification project.
In fourth-quarter 2016, RIL completed installation of its Jamnagar 1.5-million tpy ethylene cracker and derivatives units for production of high-density, low-density, and linear low-density polyethylene at Jamnagar, all of which were in precommissioning and startup phases by April, RIL said in an Apr. 20 press release.
The ethylene complex will have the flexibility to crack both ethane and propane to help further optimize feedstock mix during periods of price volatility, the operator said.
Installation and mechanical completion of gasification projects linked RIL’s domestic-tariff area and Special Economic Zone refineries at Jamnagar also are completed, with both projects on schedule to be fully commissioned later this year (OGJ Online, Apr. 18, 2016).
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].