Essar Oil Ltd. has commissioned a large amine regeneration unit in the first phase of expansion of its 300,000 b/d Vadinar refinery in Gujarat, India, after commissioning a pentane-hexane isomerization unit last month (OGJ Online, Dec. 12, 2011).
The company expects initial expansion of distillation capacity to 375,000 b/d to be complete in March.
Optimization will further increase capacity to 405,000 b/d by September, when the refinery will be able to handle 87% extra-heavy crudes.
UOP designed the new amine regeneration unit, which has a design capacity of 160,000 b/d. The unit supports diesel and vacuum gas oil hydrotreaters.