VISAKHAPATNAM: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has participated in bench-marking studies, organised by the Centre for High Technology (CHT), in collaboration with Solomon Associates, USA, which compared HPCL’s performance with refineries worldwide and identified areas for improvement. Implementing these measures has helped in restricting fuel loss for Visakhapatnam refinery by 7.6 per cent resulting in savings of 25,535 Standard Refinery Fuel Tonnage per annum (SRFT), thus significantly increasing output without increasing Green House Gases.
The Navaratna PSU meets the major part of the oil needs of the nation by maintaining all safety and green environment policies without compromise. The HPCL minimises So2, a major task in the oil industry, by adopting several advanced technologies and green initiatives during its process.
The company is also focussing on generating alternative and renewable fuels that would contribute to reduced green house gases. It has invested in solar and wind energy to reduce its carbon footprint. The company has a comprehensive process in place with three state-of-the-art effluent treatment plants that have facilitated the recycling and reuse of water, thereby reducing the extent of fresh water required. Several marketing locations have also undertaken rainwater harvesting projects that have contributed to the betterment of the local water bodies. HPCL is one of the large corporate citizens of Visakhapatnam where they have their biggest 8.3 MMTA refinery in the country, black oil and white oil terminals, aviation fuelling facility at Visakhapatnam Airport and a number of petrol pumps and LPG distributors serving the citizens of Visakhapatnam.
The HPCL ensures that waste is properly treated and ethically disposed of and works towards maintaining the ecological balance in the regions where it has its operations. The hazardous waste generated in the refinery is mainly of two categories - oily sludge and spent catalyst.
The oily sludge is reprocessed in the refinery with state-of-the-art treatment process for recovery of oil and the residual sludge thereof is bio-remediated by oil zapper bacteria of the The Energy Research Institute (TERI). The spent catalyst is either sold to CPCB and SPCB, authorised recyclers or disposed of to APPCB authorised treatment, storage and disposal facility (TSDF) at Parawada. The company has research and development facilities and is building a new green research and development centre at Bengaluru that is focussed on researching and putting in place new measures that will both reduce toxic waste and increase productivity by improving processes.
