Larsen & Toubro’s Hydrocarbon Onshore division (L&T Onshore) has hit a milestone accomplishment with the feed-in of the world’s first LC-Max Residue Upgradation Facility (RUF) at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd’s (HPCL) Visakh Refinery in Andhra Pradesh. The facility highlight a potential of 3.55 million metric tons per annum (MMTPA).
The unit has now formally started processing vacuum residue from the refinery, forming high-value products. The benchmark was honored in the presence of senior representatives from HPCL, the licensor CLG, and venture control consultant EIL, indicating a explaining moment for India’s refining and energy quarter.
Implemented by L&T on an EPC turnkey basis, the RUF is the most complicated procedure unit of HPCL’s Visakh Refinery Modernization venture—a flagship venture below the National Energy Self-Reliance Programme targeted at separating maximum value from residue streams.
The superior facility produces fuel that meets BS-VI emission standards and launches numerous first-of-their-kind technologies in Indian refineries, consisting of ebullating pumps, Grayloc flanges, Pressure Let-down Stations, and Pitch Solidification and Handling Units.
Stating at the accomplishment, L&T’s Deputy Managing Director and President, Subramanian Sarma, stated: “With the commissioning of the world’s first LC-Max Residue Upgradation Facility, brought with development and precision, L&T has reaffirmed its function as a leader in implementing complicated, large-scale ventures that set new benchmarks in safety, quality and technological development”.
The venture confronted remarkable challenges, consisting of execution during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide supply chain disruptions, geopolitical tensions, and harsh constructability constraints within a compact brownfield refinery in Vizag.
To conquer over these hurdles, L&T leveraged advanced construction strategies and maximized off-site fabrication. Over half of the structural and piping scope was modularized into a 135 plug-and-play modules, a few up to 35 metres long and weighing a 100–700 tons, fabricated across L&T’s centers in India.
The construction scale was huge, concerning over 750 equipment items, such as 230 over-dimensional consignments transported throughout Vizag, along side extensive piping and cabling. Over 50% of civil works, inclusive of all 3-substation buildings, were carried out the use of precast construction —a primary for any Indian refinery venture.
The venture also registered 58 million secure workhours, showing L&T’s commitment to safety and quality. The commissioning of the LC-Max RUF underscores L&T’s engineering prowess and ability to supply particularly complicated ventures beneath the toughest situations.
