Indian Oil Corporation And Celanese Agree To Explore World-scale TCX Fuel Ethanol Plant In India

Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) of Delhi, India, and Celanese Corporation CE of Dallas, Texas, USA, have signed an MOU (memorandum of understanding) on October 1 to explore the potential of a joint investment in a fuel ethanol plant to be built in India, based on Celanese's TCX® Technology. The project is expected to be located at Paradip in Odisha State of India and will utilize petroleum coke (“petcoke”) from Indian Oil's refineries as the key feedstock. Other potential locations will also be investigated. The potential investment would create significant value addition by converting petcoke, a by-product in the refining process, to a low-cost, high-octane and clean-burning gasoline blending component (ethanol) and potentially other co-product petrochemical derivatives. Ethanol, an ideal blending stock for gasoline production, will help in meeting the rising gasoline demand of India. Celanese and IOCL are undertaking this collaborative study that will benefit both companies as well as India as a whole. Indian Oil is an Indian Maharatna company with integrated operations in the field of refining, marketing, pipelines, petrochemicals, gas, exploration and production, and R&D activities.