Indian refiners could use petcoke to produce urea, methanol and ammonia rather than selling it outright: Dastur Energy CEO

India’s petroleum sector could increasingly look at utilising petroleum coke (petcoke) to produce more downstream products as ammonia, urea, methanol and dimethyl ether (DME), among others, instead of selling it off directly, Atanu Mukherjee, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of energy engineering and advisory company Dastur Energy told The Hindu.

“If you burn petcoke, it is very polluting,” he observed, adding, “On the other hand, you can take the petcoke and convert it into different kinds of chemicals or molecules using a process called gasification.”

Petroleum Coke, or Petcoke, is a carbon-rich, solid residue produced from the processing of heavy refinery bottoms, after lighter and higher-value products have been extracted.

It works as a fuel in cement, lime kilns and industrial boilers, among others, by either fully or partially burning the compound.

Mr. Mukherjee explained that a gasifier would be central to the process of producing more downstream products. It would p partially oxidise the petcoke using oxygen and steam and convert it into a combination of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which is commonly known as syngas.

This, the Dastur CEO explains, could be utilised to produce DME – which could be blended with LPG; methanol and methane among others.

However, he emphasised that fine-tuning of the gasifier and the downstream process configuration, depending on the desired product slate and syngas composition, would be essential in the process.

“How I fine-tune the gasifier based on the end-product needs that I wish to have would be essential in designing the complex, what products you want to have and [cater to] what markets,” he stated.

Mr. Mukherjee added the technology is readily available in several countries, including the U.S., and Indian refiners could license them for the short term towards ultimately building capacities as per their requirements over the longer-term.

In terms of a policy, Mr. Mukherjee held that some dedicated diversion of petcoke for “conversion rather than combustion” could help spur the mechanism.