Making the Most of a World of Opportunities

India’s increasing needs for a variety of products fueled by its rising population and increasing per capita consumption has always been one of the main driver for its large market involving the  consumption of refinery & petrochemical products. We were quick to grab the opportunities that presented themselves in the  mid-eighties. Our journey into Refinery and Petrochemicals sector started with an EPCM services job for Sahyadri Dyestuff & Chemicals. This was followed by order for detailed engineering services for a complex project for Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) plant from Tamilnadu Petroproducts in 1984. The successful execution of this project paved the way for future opportunities in LAB resulting in projects in India and Middle East (Saudi Arabia) which were also completed successfully. Thanks to such complex projects, we have earned the reputation of being a preferred partner for the Indian Chemical Industry in the area of Petrochemicals, Organic Chemicals and Polymers such as Chloromethane, Formaldehyde, PVC/VCM, Cumene/Phenol HDPE, PP to name a few.

Some of the major projects delivered in the Refinery sector, to name a few, include

• Visbreaker Unit of Mangalore Refinery,

• VGO-HDT, ATF, LPG Merox for IOCL Gujarat Refinery;

• Motor Spirit Quality Upgradation Project involving Naphtha Hydrotreater (NHT) and Isomerisation units at IOCL Guwahati & Digboi Refineries;

• VGO-HDT, DHDT, HCDS units at IOCL Paradip Refinery,

• Hydrogen Generation Unit for Praxair at Paradip Refinery;

• Naphtha Hydrotreater and Continuous Catalytic Reformer at BPCL, Mahul;

• Indmax  FCC & Gasoline Desulfurisation at IOCL Bongaigaon  

Our project list speaks for itself. Over 200 major projects in the petrochemical sectors, and 40 plus projects for a large number of secondary processing units for the refining majors of India. In keeping with the times, almost 40% of our 2 million hour annual engineering capacity was invested in implementing refinery and downstream petrochemical projects.

In the refinery sector, over the past 25 years, we established ourselves as a leading player for Detailed Engineering, PMC and LSTK contracting services for projects. Our history in Indian refining sector started back in 1994, with the first contract for a complex and challenging assignment to engineer and implement a Visbreaker unit of the Refinery at Mangalore, (a panoramic view of which can be seen above). Other opportunities followed soon after, as India decided to address the global need for cleaner fuels. The industry witnessed an introduction of the “Bharat Stage Emission Standards (BSES)” by the Government to regulate the output of air pollutants from motor vehicles. All major refineries were mandated to take up Diesel Hydro-desulfurisation (DHDS) projects.  It proved to be just the right opportunity to  enter the refinery sector. Amongst our first projects was a contract to provide detail engineering services for a DHDS unit at Indian Oil Corporation’s Panipat Refinery and for a Sulphur recovery unit at Indian Oil Corporation’s Gujarat Refinery.

Establishing our Footprint

After this start in the Refinery & Petrochemical sectors, our resources in terms of engineering specialists and IT capabilities were ramped up to handle mega projects in the areas of refineries, petrochemicals and polymers. A long list of successfully executed projects, both greenfield and revamps, involving complete project lifecycle starting from Detailed Feasibility Study, Front End Engineering Design (FEED), Detailed Engineering, Procurement Services, Project Management, Inspection & Expediting services, Construction Supervision and Commissioning followed. Our flexibility was a key factor – we performed a variety of roles, in deference to the customers - EPCM Consultant, Project Management Consultant (PMC) or LSTK contractor. 

Some of the landmark projects executed by us in the Petrochemical sector include

• LAB plants for TN Petro Products, Nirma, IOCL, RIL, Farabi Petrochemicals

• Caprolactam complex for GSFC;

• VCM /PVC Complex of Finolex Industries,

• Polymer projects at Panipat Refinery for HDPE, LLDPE-HDPE Swing, Styrene Butadiene Rubber,

• Propane Dehydrogenation (PDH) & Polypropylene units for EPPC Egypt;

• PBT resin plant for SIPCHEM, Saudi Arabia,

• Phenol and Cumene plants for Deepak Phenolics, Dahej.

Analysing the Dominant Position

• Concerted efforts to augment specialist in house teams from large talent pool of engineers and technology specialists in the country

• Experience of working with world-renowned Licensors in the area of Refinery & Petrochemicals such as UOP, Axens, Shell, Lummus, Lyondell Basell etc.

• Full spectrum of services offered such as Feasibility studies, Cost Estimation, FEED, EPCM, PMC & LSTK for both green field & revamp projects.

• Creation of a versatile Process Division with exclusive Refinery & Petrochemical group.

• Focused efforts to remain updated with State of the Art Engineering software tools to meet customer expectations.

• Compliance with National & International Codes & Standards such as ASME, API, NFPA, OISD etc.

• Commitment to HSE in Design & Construction resulting in excellent safety track record & Client appreciation.

• Continuous sharing of knowledge with customers across various forums including Chemtech, Refinery Technology Meet etc.

• Industry interactions aimed at increasing interface with customers at all levels

The Customer is in the Equation

India’s refineries have been on an expansion spree in recent decades, as the country is looking at becoming self-reliant in refinery products. Projects for attaining clean fuel status continues to be a priority for the country’s refining majors, who have been mandated to achieve BS VI (equivalent to Euro VI) norms.

Our projects for them have therefore helped fulfil their mandates. Some of these are considered industry benchmarks, setting standards for quality, compliance with budget, time schedule and safety records.

Key Papers by our Experts at Industry Forums

• “Divided Wall Distillation for Refining & Petrochemical Industry” at Refining & Petrochemical Conference, ChemTech Oil and Gas World Expo 2016, Mumbai.: Prasad Khandalekar

• “tkIS Hydrogen Technology” at Refining, Petrochemical, and Polymer World Conference, ChemTech World Expo 2017, Mumbai.: Prasad Khandalekar

• “thyssenkrupp’s Hydrogen technology” Refining & Petrochemicals World Conference 2018 (Chemtech) : Kishor Sonawane

• “thyssenkrupp’s  Hydrogen Peroxide to Propylene Oxide technology & references” at  24th Refining & Petrochemicals Technology Meet , 2020, Bangalore : Atul Bhalerao

Deepak Phenolics, Dahej, Gujarat, India

When Deepak Phenolics decided to put up a Phenol plant at Dahej, Gujarat, they approached tkIS-India to perform feasibility study including cost estimation.  After financial closure of  the project, tkIS-India  provided Engineering, Procurement & Construction Management services to  Deepak Phenolics for  putting up Cumene plant (Licensor UOP), Phenol plant  (Licensor KBR) and associated Offsites & Utilities which were conceptualized and engineered by tkIS India.

A Satisfied Customer Speaks

Heartiest congratulations to all concerned for safe and smooth commissioning of DHDS after the mega-revamp. It was an example of good planning & execution through excellent team work and coordination. Keep it up.

Subhajit Sarkar, GM(PN) - Gujarat Refinery

Congratulations to the whole team involved in the revamp and commissioning of the DHDS unit. It has been possible only due to the meticulous planning, coordination and hard work by each and every person of the entire team.

Ashok Alva, CGM (Technical) - Gujarat Refinery

Heartiest congratulations to one and all team members for displaying excellent teamwork and co-ordination in  completion of stupendous & challenging DHDS Revamp works & finally achieving today the BS-IV Product after DHDS shutdown safely and successfully. Let’s maintain  the same spirit and teamwork in our future endeavours too.  

Y M Parmar, DGM(PJ) - Gujarat Refinery

Heartiest congratulations and thanks to everyone for kind support for successful commissioning of DHDS plant with full of safety and achieved this target in minimum time of around 80 hrs(Start up time). Apart from that product S achieved less than 20ppm and product routed to R/D at 16:00hrs today (Sep 20 2018). 

Amit Sharma, STSM - Gujarat Refinery