Reliance commissions paraxylene plant at Jamnagar

Reliance Industries Ltd has commissioned the first line of the world's largest paraxylene plant at its petrochemicals complex in Jamnagar ahead of schedule. The remaining two lines are expected to be operational over the next few weeks, says a company release.

The plant, comprising three lines, has a total capacity to produce 1.4 million tonnes per annum of paraxylene, with each line capable of delivering 467,000 tpa. The commissioning of the other two lines will make Reliance the third largest producer of paraxylene in the world, behind BP Amoco and Exxon-Mobil.

The plant is built using technology from UOP of the US, which is capable of producing paraxylene of international quality with a purity level of 99.9 per cent. UOP is a world leader in the field of refinery and petrochemical technologies.

The entire output of paraxylene is likely to be utilised for captive consumption at RIL's pure terephthalic acid manufacturing plant at its Patalganga and Hazira petrochemical complexes. Reliance's current PTA capacity is around 1 million tpa.

The paraxylene plant is fully integrated with the group's grassroots refinery unit in Jamnagar, and uses reformate, a key feedstock, made available from the refinery. The global scale production unit and feedstock integration makes the paraxylene facility one of the most competitive in the world.

The oil refinery, commissioned recently, is the largest in the world, with a 27-million mta capacity. It is also the most complex refinery in India with a 9.9 Nelson's complexity index. A high complexity index means better refining margins and higher secondary processing facility, resulting in a higher proportion of value-added products.

The Reliance group has already invested around Rs 24,000 crore in various projects at the Jamnagar complex. The Jamnagar complex comprises refinery, integrated petrochemicals complex, port, captive power facilities, and other related infrastructure.