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BASF strengthens innovation Numaligarh Refinery Ltd to use

capabilities in Asia Honeywell technology

ASF is strengthening its innovation capabilities in umaligarh Refinery Ltd
BAsia by breaking ground for the third phase of its N(NRL) will use Honeywell
Innovation Campus Shanghai and by establishing an UOP technology to produce
academic sounding board as part of the Network for cleaner-burning diesel fuel
Asian Open Research (NAO). The expansion includes an in compliance with India’s
additional research and development (R&D) building and BS-VI emission standards and
one R&D workshop building. Construction is expected increase crude oil conversion.
to be completed by the end of 2022; by then, the total The Numaligarh Refinery
investment of BASF into its Innovation Campus Shanghai Expansion Project (NREP)
will sum up to around €280 million. This further expansion will facilitate economic
demonstrates BASF’s continued commitment to further development in the north-
build up innovation capacities in China and the whole Asia eastern states of India by expanding the region’s crude
Pacific region. With this expansion, BASF will strengthen processing capacity from the present 3.0 million tpy to
its R&D capabilities for advanced materials and systems
as well as for chemical engineering in order to serve 9.0 million tpy in Numaligarh, Assam. The UOP Distillate
the needs of growing industries, such as automotive, Unionfining™ process will enable NRL to produce diesel
construction, and coatings. Accompanying this expansion that complies with India’s BS-VI emission standards,
at the Innovation Campus Shanghai, BASF is establishing a which were implemented last year. The process
sounding board made up of experts from top universities in removes impurities to improve the quality of middle
Asia as part of the Network for Asian Open Research (NAO). distillate feedstocks that meet increasingly stringent
The sounding board will strengthen BASF’s innovation regulations for fuels such as diesel. “This project with
pipelines and accelerate market introduction by providing Numaligarh marks the first-ever UOP licensed process
professional consultancy for R&D projects, anticipating unit in an NRL refinery, and it’s the first grassroots diesel
hydrotreating unit in India using a latest-generation
UOP catalyst,” said Mike Banach, Managing Director,
UOP India. “The Unionfining technology will help NRL
increase crude processing capacity and comply with
ever-stricter standards for diesel production.” UOP
Unionfining technology provides flexible solutions to
gas oil conversion for ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel and
kerosene production. UOP has licensed more than 370
Unionfining units globally. The NREP expansion is part
of the Government of India’s Hydrocarbon Vision 2030
for the northeast Indian states. It also is integrated
with a new crude oil pipeline from Paradip in Odisha
to Numaligarh in Assam, and a product pipeline from
industry trends, and enhancing the collaborations between Numaligarh to Siliguri in West Bengal where NRL has
BASF and universities. Launched in 2014, NAO is a joint its own marketing terminal for product distribution.
platform of BASF and meanwhile 12 prestigious universities NRL, one of the four refineries in oil- and gas-rich
and institutes in Asia Pacific. To date, more than 70 joint Assam, was set up at Numaligarh in Golaghat district
projects have been completed, covering a wide range of of Assam in accordance with the provisions made in the
research areas including monomers, polymers, surfaces historic Assam Accord signed on 15 August 1985. It was
and interfaces, coatings, catalysis, battery materials, created as a vehicle for speedy industrial and economic
chemical and process engineering, insecticides, as well development of the region.
as digitalization and smart manufacturing in R&D.

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