Profile of BPCL KR

Kochi Refinery, a unit of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), embarked

on its journey in 1966 with a capacity of 50,000 barrels per day. Formerly known as
Cochin Refineries Limited and later renamed as Kochi Refineries Limited, the
refinery was originally established as a joint venture in collaboration with Phillips
Petroleum Corporation, USA. Today it is a frontline entity as a unit of the Fortune
500 Company, BPCL.
Kochi Refinery, located at Ambalmugal near the city of Kochi in Kerala, is one of the
two Refineries of BPCL, presently having a crude oil refining capacity of 9.5 Million
Metric Ton per Annum (MMTPA). The product portfolio of the 190,000 barrels per
day refinery today includes petrochemical feedstock and specialty products in
addition to its range of quality fuels.
Fuel products of this fuel based refinery includes Liquefied Petroleum Gas,
Naphtha, Motor Spirit, Kerosene, Aviation Turbine Fuel, High Speed Diesel, Fuel
Oils and Asphalt. Specialty products for the domestic markets include Benzene,
Toluene, Propylene, Special Boiling Point Spirit, Poly Isobutene and sulfur.
The refinery has implemented world class technology and systems for operations
and enterprise resource planning. It is an ISO 14001 Environmental Management
Systems (EMS) and ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System (QMS) accredited
company and has also obtained the ISO 17025 (Testing Methods in Quality Control)
certification from NABL (National Accreditation Board for testing & Calibration of
Laboratories). The refinery has successfully implemented the Occupational Health
and Safety Management System (OHSAS) 18001:2007 in the year 2009.









Petroleum refining processes are the application of chemical engineering
and other facilities used in petroleum refineries (also referred to as oil
refineries) to transform crude oil into useful products such as liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG), gasoline or petrol, kerosene, jet fuel, diesel oil and fuel
oils.


Petroleum refineries are very large industrial complexes that involve many
different processing units and auxiliary facilities such as utility units and storage
tanks. Each refinery has its own unique arrangement and combination of
refining processes largely determined by the refinery location, desired products
and economic considerations. There are most probably no two refineries that
are identical in every respect.

Some modern petroleum refineries process as much as 800,000 to 900,000
barrels (127,000 to 143,000 cubic meters) per day of crude oil.




Refinery main processing units:

Crude Oil Distillation unit: Distills the incoming crude oil into various fractions for
further processing in other units.
Vacuum distillation unit: Further distills the residue oil from the bottom of the
crude oil distillation unit. The vacuum distillation is performed at a pressure well
below atmospheric pressure.
Naphtha hydrotreater unit: Uses hydrogen to desulfurize the naphtha fraction
from the crude oil distillation or other units within the refinery.
Catalytic reforming unit: Converts the desulfurised naphtha molecules into
higher-octane molecules to produce reformate, which is a component of the
end-product gasoline or petrol

Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit: Upgrades the heavier, higher-boiling
fractions from the crude oil distillation by converting them into lighter and lower
boiling, more valuable products.



Hydrocracker unit: Uses hydrogen to upgrade heavier fractions from the crude
oil distillation and the vacuum distillation units into lighter, more valuable
products.
Visbreaker unit upgrades heavy residual oils from the vacuum distillation unit by
thermally cracking them into lighter, more valuable reduced viscosity products.
Delayed coking and fluid coker units: Convert very heavy residual oils into end-
product petroleum coke as well as naphtha and diesel oil by-products.
Alkylation unit: Converts isobutane and butylenes into alkylate, which is a very
high-octane component of the end-product gasoline or petrol.
Isomerization unit: Converts linear molecules such as normal pentane into
higher-octane branched molecules for blending into the end-product gasoline.
Also used to convert linear normal butane into isobutane for use in the
alkylation unit

The training period at the refinery has helped me understand the
foundation and functioning of the organization. Through the
course of my training, I managed to improve my knowledge and
understanding of the concepts and theories which were only
subjective to me till date. I have also been educated about the
shutdown procedures and was given an opportunity to study
internals of a few columns and equipment.
I am happy to conclude that this training has given me the much
needed exposure to the petroleum industry and hope it holds me
in good stead for the future.

THANK YOU

CONCLUSION