Media release
Mangaluru, Oct 11: Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has won the prestigious 'Best Innovation in Refinery' award for the second year in succession from the Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India.
The Coastal Karnataka-based MRPL has secured the award for the fiscal year 2022-23 for the second consecutive year amid stiff competition from industry giants such as IOCL, BPCL, and HPCL.
The award was presented to a team led by MD MRPL Sanjay Varma by Hardeep Singh Puri, Hon'ble Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs, GoI, during the inaugural session of Energy Technology Meet 2023, at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
B H V Prasad, ED - Projects, Shyamprasad Kamath, ED - Refinery, Nandakumar, GGM (Corporate Strategy), Karthick R, senior manager, Tech Services - R&D, Dr Pramod Hegde, manager, Tech Services - R&D, and Dr Manjunatha M G, manager, Tech Services - R&D accompanied MD while receiving the award.
The award ceremony was graced by the presence of Rameswar Teli, minister of state of P&NG and Labour & Employment, Pankaj Jain, secretary, MoPNG and Dr Anil Kakodkar, chairman SAC.
The foundation for MRPL R&D's success in claiming this award is based on a patent for an energy-efficient hydrocarbon distillation process that includes:
- A hydrocarbon gas composition capable of substituting energy-intensive stripping steam in the distillation process.
- A method to raise the overhead vapour's dew point while employing gas stripping.
- A technique to achieve the required stripping gas composition by manipulating refinery gas streams.
MRPL R&D's proposal was screened by the Centre for Higher Technology (CHT), and the final evaluation was done by the distinguished Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), chaired by the esteemed Dr Anil Kakodkar (Padma Vibhushan award winner).
The SAC included other eminent scientists from India, representing heads of institutions such as CSIR Labs and IITs.