Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Limited (HPCL) says it will use technologies from Honeywell UOP to expand and modernize its refinery at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh on the southeast coast of India.

Included in the project are licensing, basic engineering design, and associated services for a Penex isomerization unit, which helps make cleaner burning high-octane gasoline, and a Unicracking hydrocracking unit to produce cleaner burning diesel fuel.

The Penex process upgrades light naphtha feedstock to produce isomerate, a cleaner gasoline blend-stock that does not contain benzene, aromatics, or olefins.

The Unicracking process uses catalysts, unit design, and reactor internals to produce higher yields of cleaner-burning fuels from a wider range of feedstocks. The unit's fractionation section includes an innovative configuration to more efficiently separate the products, reducing capital costs and lowering utilities and operating expense. In addition, the unit's heavy polynuclear aromatics management allows the unit to achieve nearly 100% conversion throughout the entire cycle length.

Together, the two processes will enhance HPCL's ability to supply gasoline and diesel that meets the Indian government's new Bharat Stage-VI clean fuels standard, and meets growing demand for those fuels. They also improve gross refining margins by converting low value feed stocks to high-value transportation fuels.

To meet tightening global emissions standards, the Indian government has proposed a 35% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 by adopting Euro-IV fuel specifications by 2017 and BS-VI (roughly equivalent to the Euro-VI specification) by 2020.

HPCL owns and operates two coastal refineries at Mumbai and Visakhapatnam along with a joint venture refinery at Mangalore, and another at Bhatinda, Punjab. It also operates six cross-country pipelines along with a network of terminals, depots, LPG bottling plants, lube filling plants, and aviation service facilities.