Industries: Petrochemicals and Refineries

Thermax has commissioned a large capacity thermal oil heater for the global petroleum giant, Shell at the Jebel Ali free zone. This installation was carried out for Shell’s bitumen terminal at the downstream petroleum area and required Thermax to undertake the entire project from concept to commissioning. The project was a landmark installation, as the Thermax heating team installed the heater for the Shell storage tank, with a height of 8000 m. It is the largest bitumen tank in the region and the global infrastructure company, Mott MacDonald advised as consultants for the project. Thermax was chosen as the company’s teams have carried out heating installations for over 100 storage tanks catering to petroleum derivatives such as bitumen, lube and heavy furnace oils. Other big-ticket oil industry clients of Thermax in the region include Sharjah Oil Refining, FAL Energy, Emirates Lube Oil Company and British Petroleum. Heating is an essential process for the petroleum industry, as the products need to be heated for them to flow easily and reduce pumping costs. Heating is also required in the case of product modifications for applications such as waterproofing, paint and road works in the case of bitumen.

Apart from setting a record in manufacturing the largest packaged plug-and-play utility boilers in India to date, Thermax also achieved a benchmark in the concept of modularisation. During the year, the company completed the supply of its largest export so far comprising four utility boilers, eight heat recovery steam generators, two flue gas steam generators and a hot oil heater for the largest refinery and petrochemical project in Nigeria, West Africa.

The sub-assemblies were manufactured at Thermax facilities in Shirwal, Savli, and Chinchwad as per global quality norms. The final assembly was then completed at Mundra. Speaking of numbers, 1,300 people, including third parties, worked on the project, deployed 5.1 million man-hours, to build equipment weighing over 21,000 tonnes, without a single reportable accident. The largest module weighed 1,450 tonnes and the tallest one was higher than an eight-storey building.

The other critical aspect of the project, managed skilfully, was transporting these massive structures to the port and rolling them on to special ro-ro vessels. The modules were sea-fastened to ensure that they would sail smoothly between continents, enduring strong winds and rolling seas. With increasing complexities involved in setting up greenfield process plants, these modularisation solutions can help customers de-risk their construction work and accelerate completion time, evident from the fact that the first package was installed in a record time of 21 hours, which would have taken six months to complete had it been built at site.

Click on the link to watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvJvBiLxOcc&t=13s

The Chemical division of Thermax bagged a repeat order for demineralisation resins from the utility department of Sipchem, Saudi Arabia’s leading chemical and petrochemicals manufacturer. This sizeable win can be attributed to the Thermax’s Chemical team responsible for the Middle East, who provided excellent technical support in successfully commissioning ion exchange resins supplied earlier for their demineralisation plant. DM is a critical process that helps in removing mineral salts from water using ion exchange process, and this treated water is further used to feed the high-pressure boilers.

Another country where the division marked its entry is Columbia, by commissioning a steam-fired 200 TR chiller at Eco Diesel, one of the biggest refineries in the country. This chiller yields water at 5ºC; which is used to lower the biodiesel temperature from 50ºC to 25ºC. At this temperature, the biodiesel is in its purest form, making it the most sought after fuel in its category

The Heating division successfully completed a prestigious project for Oil India Limited by commissioning a high-pressure OTSG (Once Through Steam Generator) ‘Steamax’ of 8 TPH capacity and working pressure of 175 bar(g). Oil India needed a technology for Cyclic Steam Stimulation in order to extract heavy crude oil from the reserves in Thar Desert, Rajasthan. Deemed as an ideal fit for this application, Thermax supplied the OTSG in 2006, primarily used for steam assisted gravity drain technique of oil extraction and enhanced oil recovery. This technology provided by Thermax to Oil India is first-of-a-kind with a potential to make India self-reliant in the extraction of crude oil. However, the project failed to kick off then and was later revived under the close administration of the Prime Minister’s office in 2017, and the OTSG was commissioned in November 2018. Thermax team received much appreciation for their hard work and were featured on the customer’s website.

Thermax has commissioned a rooftop solar PV power plant for Gail (India) Limited (GAIL) at its petrochemical complex in Pata, Uttar Pradesh. The 5.76 MW plant, second largest in India, is spread over two warehouse roofs measuring 500 m x 65 m each, and will generate 79,30,000 units of electricity per annum for GAIL’s captive use. 

Thermax was awarded the contract in January 2017 to set up the plant on a turnkey basis as well as manage its operations and maintenance for four years. Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) was the project consultant. 

For the project, Thermax used 18,300 modules of 315 Wp (watt peak) with advanced Polycrystalline technology. Adequate measures to ensure safety have been taken.

The plant is equipped with central inverters and a SCADA based tracking system monitors the various aspects of generation and operations. It’s expected to reduce GAIL’s carbon dioxide emission by 6000 tons per annum. 

Projects like GAIL’s, hopefully, should encourage industries to tap into the latent potential of rooftops in meeting the ambitious renewable energy target that India has set for itself.

Thermax has helped BPCL revamp its hydrogen generation unit, marking its foray into fuel reforming application. With the government’s decision to leapfrog India’s emission norms directly from Bharat IV to the more stringent Bharat VI, India’s refining sector is seeing hectic activity. On its part, BPCL needed additional hydrogen at its Mahul plant to refine petroleum and generate fuel that will meet the new standards. Instead of installing a new hydrogen generating unit, they decided to revamp the existing one by opting for an additional Haldor Topse Exchange Reformer (HTER). 

The Service SBU of the Boiler and Heating business successfully completed the assignment, commissioning the reformer on time, resulting in an assured generation of 25 – 30% additional hydrogen from existing assets. 

Also involved in the project were TECC, the JV, Haldor Topse (process licensing) and EIL (managemant consultant). 

BPCL acknowledged Thermax’s contribution and presented the team with a memento as a mark of appreciation.

Thermax has bagged an order to set up a new water pretreatment plant for Reliance Industries Ltd., at its Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat. The scope of the package supplied by the Water and Waste Solutions division will include engineering, civil works, supply of electro mechanical equipment, erection and commissioning tests. Thermax systems would pretreat 3 million litres of Narmada river water per hour (3000 m3 /hour). Thermax’s cascade aerator will convert iron in the raw water from Narmada into iron oxide which settles at the base for removal. The water is then pre chlorinated and undergoes coagulation. High Rate Solids Contact Clarifier (HRSCC) settles impurities and the water is filtrated to remove suspended impurities. Post chlorination eliminates microbial growth and the sludge from the HRSCC is treated for disposal. The treated water will be used at the cooling tower of the refinery complex. The project is expected to be completed by October 2018.

Thermax has dispatched a customised skid mounted gas-fired heater to Tatweer Petroleum, Bahrain through the EPC major Petrofac LLC, Sharjah. The 2.35 Mn Kcal/hr modular heater from the Heating division is the perfect solution for gas field operations in the Bahrain desert where minimum site work is a decisive advantage. The plug-and-play heater checks all the boxes for being efficient, faster to install without delays from weather and crew, economical, and easily mobile. Thermax hopes to bag more orders for the customer’s upcoming expansion projects.