India's private sector RIL will implement a scheme to transfer its gasification operations into a wholly-owned subsidiary as it looks to expand its high-value chemicals business and realise its hydrogen ambitions.
This comes on the back of its shift in focus to renewables and achieving net zero for Scope 1 and 2 emissions, which cover greenhouse gases from direct operations and energy consumption respectively.
The gasification project was set up in Jamnagar refinery in the western province of Gujarat to produce syngas to meet energy requirements as refinery off-gases, and was repurposed into feedstock for the refinery off-gas cracker, which helps in the production of olefins. Syngas is also used to produce hydrogen.
"As RIL progressively transitions to renewables as its primary source of energy, more syngas will become available for upgradation to high-value chemicals including C1 chemicals and hydrogen," the company said.
"Repurposing the gasification assets will help use syngas as a reliable source of feedstock to produce these chemicals and cater to growing domestic demand, resulting in an attractive business opportunity," it added.
The company also mentioned that the CO2 released during hydrogen production is highly concentrated and easily capturable, while the repurposing would enable RIL to be the "first mover to establish a hydrogen ecosystem" as the hydrogen economy expands.
The gasification undertaking is to be transferred to Reliance Syngas (RSL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of RIL, according to a regulatory filing. RSL is yet to commence its business operations and will be an unlisted company.
Meanwhile, RIL is spinning off its oil and petrochemical operations into a separate oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business, while also shifting its focus to renewables and committing to becoming a net zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions firm by 2035.
RIL produces around 6mn t/yr of coke at Jamnagar, where its 10 gasifiers have the capacity to consume 9mn t/yr or 75,000 t/month of coke. But the gasifiers do not usually run simultaneously and at least two or three units are typically under maintenance at any given time.
RIL is the country's main coke producer, followed by state-controlled refiner IOC and Russia's Rosneft-owned Nayara Energy. But it consumes the bulk of the product and sells any surplus to domestic consumers. It also resorts to imports occasionally.
The gasification project initially faced many technical challenges. But it has been operating steadily after a steep ramp-up using coke for 100pc of the feedstock, the company said in its annual report for the year ending 31 March 2020. The commissioning of the petroleum coke gasification complex has significantly reduced supplemental energy costs, RIL said.
