HPCL eyes start-up of FCC

India’s state-owned refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL) aims to start commercial operations of fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at its 8.3 million metric tons per year (MTPY) Visakhapatnam refinery in the second week of October, about a week later than its earlier planned schedule. The revamp will lift the installed capacity of the 700,000 MTPY FCC by nearly 1 million MTPY to 1.6million MTPY. The FCC was shutdown in early June. When the revamp is completed, the refinery will produce about 1 million MTPY of gasoline that meets Euro 3 and Euro 4 equivalent specifications. (September 24, 2010)