Natural gas processing and distribution company GAIL India has selected Axens' AlphaButol technology for use at a new plant in Uttar Pradesh, India.
The AlphaButol technology, which is based on homogeneous catalysis, is designed and optimised to produce comonomer 1-Butene, used for downstream polyolefins applications.
GAIL will use AlphaButol in a new ethylene dimerisation unit which will be located at its petrochemical complex in Auraiya, Uttar Pradesh, India.
The ethylene unit will have the capacity to produce 20,000t per annum of 1-Butene.
GAIL has natural gas pipelines with a capacity of around 160 million cubic metres per day, two LPG Pipelines with a capacity of 3.8 million cubic metres per day, as well as seven gas processing plants with a capacity of 1.4 million cubic metres per day for producing LPG and other liquid hydrocarbons.
The company is currently operating a gas-based integrated petrochemical plant of 410,000t per annum polymer capacity, which is further being expanded to a capacity of 900,000t per annum.
GAIL has a 70% equity stake in Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer, as well as a 17% equity stake in ONGC Petro-additions, which is building a 280,000t per annum polymer plant in Assam and 1.1 million tonnes per annum ethylene plant in Gujarat.
