OREANDA-NEWS. February 24, 2012. Shri S. Jaipal Reddy, Hon’ble Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas dedicated to the nation Clean Fuels Project of Visakh Refinery of HPCL.

This was dedicated in the presence of Guests of Honour - Dr. Daggubati Purandeswari, Hon’ble Minister of State for HRD, Shri Botsa Satyanarayana, Hon’ble Minister for Transport, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Shri Dharmana Prasada Rao, Hon’ble Minister for Roads & Buildings, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Shri Balaraju P., Hon’ble Minister for Tribal Welfare, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Shri Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Hon’ble Minister for Infrastructure & Investments and Ports, Airports, Natural Gas, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Shri T. Subbarami Reddy, Hon’ble Member of Parliament (RS) & Chairman – Parliamentary Committee for Science & Technology, Environment & Forests, Dr. Malla Vijaya Prasad, Hon’ble MLA, Visakhapatnam (West), Shri Pulusu Janardhana Rao, Hon’ble Mayor of Visakhapatnam, Smt. Anga Chandrakala, Corporator, GVMC (Ward 46) along with Shri S. Roy Choudhury, C&MD, HPCL and Board of Directors of HPCL.

This is another significant milestone in the history of Visakh Refinery. Earlier in the year 2000, refinery commissioned DHDS (Diesel Hydrodesulphurization) project aimed at production of BS-III grade Diesel. With the commissioning of Clean Fuels Project, Visakh Refinery is capable of producing BS-III and BS-IV grade MS (Petrol).

Today worldwide the focus is on bringing qualitative change in the environment for saving this earth from scourge of pollution caused by Green House Gases, emissions from vehicles, excessive use of coal and other sources of energy etc. India has already taken adequate measures to meet this enormous challenge including improving the auto fuel quality to meet the world standards. With increase in vehicular population in the country, the demand of auto fuels have also increased significantly. This is the single largest factor of environmental pollution in our cities and other urban areas.

In order to address this issue, Mashelkar Committee was constituted by Govt. of India. The committee recommended implementation of E-III specification for Petrol & Diesel in a phased manner. The primary objective of the implementation of these fuel specifications is to improve ambient air quality in line with the international standards. In alignment with the requirement and to re-emphasize the company’s dedication towards the cause of green environment, HPCL has proactively undertaken the project for up-gradation of MS (Petrol) fuel quality to meet BS-3 & BS-IV specifications. It is to be appreciated that while meeting the mandatory norms, the project envisages environmental benefits with improved quality products and also serves as a measure to improve public health through cleaner air in the supply zone.

The projects consists of four major units, Naphtha Hydrotreater (NHT), Continuous Catalytic Reformer (CCR), FCC-Naphtha Hydrotreater (FCC-NHT) & Isomerization unit (NIU). These units were recently commissioned in phases with an investment of R 2200 crores. With this project, Visakh Refinery has achieved one more significant step by being one amongst few refineries having capabilities to produce BS–IV MS, having stringent quality specs (sulphur less than 50 ppm). Apart from meeting MS quality, the project has also enabled refinery to increase refining capacity to 8.3 MMTPA.

With the Clean Fuel Project being dedicated to the nation today by Hon’ble Minister, Shri S. Jaipal Reddy, refinery will be able to fulfil the requirement of clean fuels to various regions of the country.