Fourth coke drum of DCU erected at Paradip refinery
New Delhi   29-Nov-2012

PARADIP Oil Refinery project of IndianOil has successfully erected its fourth coke drum of the Delayed Coker Unit (DCU) which is the world's largest unit, at the plant site today. The plant will be commissioned in November 2013, said executive director, Madhusudan Vijaywargiya.

Talking to PBD, Vijaywargiya said, "Shortage of adequate labourers has created hindrances in the progress of the oil refinery work in Paradip. So, we have utilised all resources to complete the work before time". He added that nearly 90 per cent of the work has been completed so far and the plant is expected to be commissioned by November 2013.

He also informed that the erection of DCU in Paradip oil refinery plant, which is the world's largest unit, is a complicated task as heavy coke drum needs to be lifted and erected at a height of 35 metre. The heavy equipment lifter Mammoet has been meticulously performing the erection by means of the main lifting crane CC-8800-1 (Capacity 1600 mt) and tailing crane CC-2800-1 (capacity 600 mt), he added.

Sources said that the massive Coke drums have been designed, engineered and manufactured by Larsen and Toubro, Hazira and with dimensions of Weight - 630 mt, height - 45.52 metre, diameter - 10.67 metre, shell thickness – 50 millimetre and material: shell/head/cone - SA 263.

The last (4th) coke drum (Tag no.30-V-04) has been successfully erected today, while the third coke drum (Tag no. 30-V-03) was erected yesterday. All the activities right from transportation of last coke drum till its erection on concrete foundation have been successfully accomplished in a record time of one day.

Delayed Coking is a thermal process in which a residuum material is rapidly heated in a furnace and then thermally cracked in coke drums under proper conditions of temperature and pressure. Products from the coking section of this delayed coker are Fuel Gas,LPG, unstabilized naphtha, light coker gas oil, heavy coker gas oil and coke. It is the preferred method for increasing refining margin. It is a proven technology and helps a refinery in processing a wide variety of crude oil.