Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd has begun production of polypropylene from its new 440,000 tons a year unit.
Polypropylene is a versatile polymer used for making a variety of plastics end-use products - from packaging and labelling material to textiles, stationery, plastic parts and reusable containers.
MRPL, a unit of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp, has "successfully started commercial production of polypropylene from its 4,40,000 tons per annum Polypropylene Unit (PPU) at Mangaluru," the company said in a statement.
The unit has been set up with the licensor Novolen Technology of Germany at an estimated cost of Rs 1,804 crore. It gets feedstock from MRPL's Petrochemical Fluidised Catalytic Cracking Unit (PFCCU).
The unit, which was constructed as part of the Phase-III expansion that took the refining capacity to 15 million tons per annum, is backed by four Warehouses with capacity for 21 days cover and a fully Automated Pellet Bagging System.
MRPL Managing Director H Kumar said: "Commercial production of polypropylene, which is a value-added product, marks MRPL's foray into petrochemicals. This will be a new revenue stream for MRPL and will also deliver value to the stakeholders."
The company is setting up a Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) Plant for producing raw materials to manufacture detergent and is also looking expanding its refining capacity to 18/21 million tons per annum in next 6 years at an estimated investment of Rs 8,500 crore.
It is studying techno-economic viability of the project and availability of required infrastructure at Mangalore.
