Environment and Energy

Environment, Energy, Safety and Health are given utmost priority at our Mumbai Refinery. Bharat Petroleum’s Mumbai Refinery is certified under ISO 14001 (Environment Management System) since May 1998. It was among the first refineries in the country to form an independent Energy & Environmental Cell in the year 1962. It is our endeavor to achieve excellence in the above critical areas while carrying out the day-to-day business operation.

Mumbai Refinery is happy to have participated in the GreenCo Rating which is the "first of its kind in the World" for holistic evaluation of organizations on environmental friendliness of their activities using life cycle approach through implementation of CO2 sequestration projects to offset the carbon emission. MR has achieved the distinction of being “first Indian Oil Refinery” to be rated under GreenCo Rating Certification.

We have taken various green environmental initiatives to minimize the impact of refinery operations on emissions, effluents and solid waste generation. BPCL meticulously follows the limits /norms set at refinery. BPCL ensures incorporation of modern / clean technologies for proper monitoring and abating the pollutants through Stack Monitoring Instrument; Ambient Monitoring Stations at various locations in the Refinery, Online Emission Display Boards in the refinery.
 

Rain Water Harvesting at BPCL MR

BPCL Mumbai Refinery (MR) has a vision to be a role model for environment and have always focused on environment protection and creating awareness for sustaining these efforts. We are continuously innovating our process and trying to improve operational efficiency towards energy conservation, reduction in water consumption and tree plantation every year as a part of green initiative.

Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) is implemented in the refinery as a water and energy conservation measure. Water being a scarce but essential resource, it is necessary to conserve the same. At Mumbai refinery, several projects have been implemented for rain water harvesting for conservation of raw water during the Monsoon season. Mumbai Refinery has installed rainwater harvesting system for rooftops with over 63282 square meters of catchment area. Total rainwater harvested during the year 2018-19 is about 42844 KL. Rainwater Harvesting was carried out based on a study undertaken by M/s Water Field Technologies.

Oily Sludge Management at BPCL MR

At BPCL Mumbai Refinery, oily sludge and silt waste generated during handing over of crude oil tanks, De-silting of sea cooling tower basins and oil catchers is collected from various locations in refinery and it is sent to weathering pit for recovery of oil. After recovery of oil by chemical and mechanical method, residual sludge containing less than 10 wt% oil from weathering pit is sent for Bioremediation. As per Hazardous Waste Rules 2016 for disposal of oily sludge, oil content in sludge should be less than 0.5 wt% before it can be disposed of. Process of Bio-remediation is the final step of treatment to reduce oil content in oily sludge below 0.5 wt%. Bioremediation is a process that uses naturally occurring microorganisms to transform harmful substances to nontoxic compounds.

Impact of Digitization in reduction of emissions

BPCL MR has implemented a state of the art “Real-Time monitoring” tool which connects various applications and provides a dash board of information to monitor and control critical environment parameters. Stack analyzers (SO2, NOX, CO & SPM), ETP parameters (pH, TSS, BOD & COD), Ambient Air quality Monitoring (BTEX, NO2, SO2, O3, NH3, PM10 & CO), Hazardous waste details of BPCL MR and Rain Water Harvesting are monitored at Environment BPMAI dashboard.

Some of major green initiatives taken by Mumbai Refinery are as follows:

1. Upgrading Refinery to produce clean automotive fuels
   1. Installation and commissioning of Diesel Hydro Treater Unit for production of BS-VI Grade Auto Fuel product (High Speed Diesel)
   2. Installation and commissioning of Isomerization (ISOM) Unit facility for maximization of MS (Motor Spirit) production.
   3. Installation and commissioning of Gasoline Treatment Unit (GTU) facility for production of BS-VI Grade MS (Motor Spirit) product.
   4. Approval has been taken for installation of Kero Hydro Treater (KHT) Unit with estimated project cost of Rs. 700 Crores unit so as to switch over to BS-VI Kero production.
2. Production of High Quality Group III Lube Oil Base Stock (LOBS) for manufacturing environment friendly (ultra - low sulfur, long life) lube oils.
3. Improvement in Energy Efficiency of the Refinery & distribution operation by use of new technology & modern instrumentation:
   1. High efficiency boilers & fixed heaters equipped with air pre-heaters & advanced instrumentation like Flame detectors / CO sensors/ Wireless Acoustic Transmitter
   2. High heat recovery crude preheat train systems optimized using Pinch technology.
   3. Installation of cross-country multi-product pipeline (Mumbai-Manmad-Mangliya-Bijwasan pipeline) to transport petroleum products such as Motor Spirit, kerosene and High Speed Diesel thereby reducing road movement and minimizing vehicular emissions.
   4. Installation of Co-generation plant for simultaneous generation of both power and steam at high efficiency.
   5. Installation of low-NOx burners in fired heaters to reduce release of Nitrogen oxides from fired heaters.
4. Minimise / eliminate fugitive emissions through:
   1. Implementation of industry best practices like hydrocarbon leak detection & repair (LDAR) and
   2. Use of floating roof tanks with secondary seals
   3. Installation of vapor recovery systems etc.
5. Provision of high efficiency Sulfur Recovery Units (99.9 % efficiency)
   1. Improvement of sulfur recovery from 99 % to 99.9% through commissioning of Tail Gas treatment Units (TGTU).
   2. BPCL has installed modern state of the art Waste Water Treatment Plant by M/s. Zimpro Passivant, USA to meet Minimal National Standard (MINAS).
6. Re-circulating sea cooling tower systems instead of once through sea cooling water system thereby minimizing the sea cooling requirement and effluent discharge to the sea.
7. A comprehensive system for hazardous waste management has been implemented at BPCL refinery. The details of various clean technologies implemented for optimal solid waste management are given below:
   1. Mechanized oil recovery system for oil recovery from oily sludge to recover the oil from the crude tank bottom sludge.
   2. The remaining soil having low oil content is bio-remediated with the help of specialized micro-organisms based “oil zapper” technology from The Energy Research Institute (TERI), New Delhi.
   3. Spent catalysts are either recycled to the original catalyst suppliers or disposed off to secured landfill sites in accordance with the MOE&F Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling) Rules.
   4. A Bio Gas plant has been installed at Mumbai refinery to convert canteen food waste into gas for use in canteen.
8. Installation of Demountable Flare Stack of 125 m height (which was one of the first of its kind among PSU refineries) by demolishing earlier flare stack of 80 m height. This has helped to reduce emission in surrounding area.
9. Commissioning of Flare Gas Recovery System (FGRS) with capacity of 20 T/D recovery leading to reduction in emissions.
10. Launching of Environment Champion concept to spread awareness among all the employees regarding parameters that leads to environmental damage.