Gujarat Refinery to expand LAB plant

Gujarat Refinery, the largest refinery owned by Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) is planning to augment capacity of its linear alkyl benzene (LAB) plant to cater to growing industrial demand, a top executive said. The initial 120,000 ton per annum (tpa) plant was commissioned in August 2004 with an investment of INR1,248 crore (USD199 million).
“The capacity of this plant, which is the largest in the country, will be raised by about 25,000 tons,” said Executive Director Gautam Roy. He said that IOC would expand the capacity of the plant to cater to rising demand.
“The necessity for expansion of the plant arose as the Gujarat Refinery found it difficult to meet the domestic demand when it remained shut for a short period some time ago,” Roy said.
The plant has been producing superior quality LAB for making environment-friendly biodegradable detergents that marked the oil giant’s foray into the petrochemicals sector.
(August 22, 2013)