A training on “Petroleum Refining Technology” was held at IOC R&D Centre, Faridabad from 8th to 19th January 2007 for refinery engineers mainly in A and B grades. Nominations were sought from all the IOC refinery units including that of the subsidiaries.
From Guwahati Refinery, one of my colleagues and myself were nominated to attend the training program.
As per the schedule we reached Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on 7th January at about 4 pm. From there we took prepaid taxi for Faridabad. We finally reached at Mahalakshmi Palace Hotel at quarter to 6 pm. Our rooms were already booked there by IOC R&D Centre. The accommodation was good enough for an “A” grade officer and the food was too good. In fact it was so rich that quite a number of participants were having digestion problem.
Our program started on 8th January at 10 pm. The organizers were prudent enough to send conveyance for our smooth plying from the hotel to the training centre. The program started with a brief inauguration program. Senior officers including Mr. K. Rajaram, GM Finance at R&D and several chief managers were present in the inauguration program.
First we were asked to give our short introduction including educational qualifications. We found that we had participants coming from all the IOC refineries except Barauni Refinery and CPCL. While maximum number of participants (6) came from BRPL, each of the other refinery units were represented by 2/3 nominees. Also there were 6 in-house participants from R&D centre.
After getting a hearty welcome from the GM we were briefly apprised about the course content and training plan by Mr. Brijesh Kumar (CTSM) who was also the coordinator of the whole program. Mr. S. M. Sanduja (DMHR, R&D) who was the organizer of the program and Mr. Sanjay Bhagat (Supervisor) also welcomed us cordially to the R&D centre.
Our first lecture was taken by Mr. V. P. Deshmukh about the R&D activities. This was followed by Mr. Brijesh Kumar’s lecture on “Overview of Refinery Operations”. This briefly gave us an overview of the refinery operations and also helped us to have an idea about the training program that was set for us in the next two weeks. In the afternoon session we had a lecture on “Crude oil selection, procurement, transportation and constraints” taken by Mrs. Madhurima Gupta, CTSM at Ref-HQ. This was a highly interesting and informative lecture. We got to know about the procurement and purchase part of crude oil which is normally beyond the scope of the refinery operations and thus refinery people usually don’t have much idea about this.
There used to be four lectures in a day but sometimes Mr. Brijesh Kumar had to push one or two more lectures in between or after the scheduled time period which was okay for us considering that the duration of the training program was only two weeks and also probably we wouldn’t be getting a second chance to attend a similar program again. There used to be a short tea break in between two consecutive lectures and then a gala lunch. The food used to be very good and we used to get varied kind of snacks during tea time.
The lectures were mainly taken by the R&D in-house faculties, but sometimes for one or two specialized topics the faculty used to come from the Refinery HQ and the nearby Mathura and Panipat Refinery.
Despite the fact that the training period was very short Mr. Brijesh Kumar judiciously designed the course program in such a manner so as to give us maximum input within this short period of time. During these two weeks we had a thorough overview of all the major refinery processes and also some very useful and relevant parts like pumps and compressors, fire and safety and crude oil assay and analysis. We got to know about all the product specifications including lube and bitumen. Also there were a couple of very interesting and useful lectures on corrosion problems in refining industry and the selection procedure for the material of construction of the various equipments. Our training program also comprised of lectures on Simulation and Optimization, DCS and APC, catalysts, power and utilities, pipelines, bioremediation of oily sludge, alternate fuels such as hydrogen, biodiesel etc., gasification and liquefaction and analytical techniques in refining. Also there was a lecture on “Mass and heat transfer fundamentals” by a guest faculty from EIL.
There was also some off-the-track but very interesting topics like ‘IOC’s diversification plans’, ‘ITL’ (IndianOil Technologies Ltd.), ‘Project conceptualization, evaluation and implementation’, ‘IOC’s foray into the E&P and petrochemical sectors’ and so on.
The lectures on the two main secondary processing techniques namely Hydro-cracking and FCC were taken by two paragons in their respective fields namely Dr. Ujjal Manna and Dr. Debashis Bhattacharya. Both the lectures were very much informative and inspiring. In fact the FCC lecture was so intriguing that it had to be extended one more hour beyond its scheduled time span. He also talked about INDMAX (this is nothing but IOC's patented FCC process) which would be very useful to me in the coming future as I am posted in the INDMAX unit. There was also a lecture on FCC troubleshooting which is again going to help me a lot in my day-to-day operations as shift in-charge in the INDMAX unit.
The following are some of the main topics that were being discussed during this training period:
- Crude Oil Selection, procurement, Transportation, Opportunities and Constraints.
- Product Specifications
- Crude Oil Assay
- Product Planning, Optimization and Supply Chain
- Bitumen
- Atmospheric and Vacuum distillation and Desalting
- CRU/CCRU and Isomerization
- Hydro-cracking, Hydro-treating and Hydro-finishing Process
- Separation Processes
- Treating Processing – Sweetening ATU and Merox
- Lube Technology
- Corrosion Problems in petroleum refining
- Metallurgy selection for process units
- MFA/RLA and advanced NDT applications
- OM&S
- FCCU Fundamentals
- FCCU Troubleshooting
- Thermal Cracking – Visbreaking and Delayed Coking
- DCS
- APC
- Simulation Packages
- Heat and Mass Transfer fundamentals
- Pollution Control Measures and CDM
- ENCON
- Fire & Safety
- IOC’s diversification plans
- Project conceptualization, evaluation and implementation
- Pumps & Compressors
- Bio-remediation of Oily Sludge
- Catalysts
- Power and Utilities
- Pipelines
- Alternate Fuels: Biodiesel/Hydrogen-CNG, Fuel Cell
- Gasification and Liquefaction
- Analytical Techniques in refining
Prior to joining Guwahati Refinery I had been to IIP-Dehradun for 10 weeks training program on the same topic i.e. “Petroleum Refining Technology”, but after attending this program at R&D I can vouch that the quality of the lecture and faculty and the zeal and enthusiasm with which our own in-house faculties deliver lectures is far better than that at IIP Dehradun.
The best part about this training program is that I came in close contact with so many people from various refineries from different parts of India. Now I can say that I have friends across all the IOC refinery units including that of subsidiary companies. In fact we, the newcomers mostly gained from the vast experiences shared by some of the participants present there who are working in IOC for last 20-30 years. We also used to discuss different types of problems that one would face in a normal day-to-day operation of refinery and how they usually tackle them. Thus we got an idea about the common issues and problems in all the refinery units.
Though the training schedule were very much compact and there was hardly a day when we could reach the hotel before 7 pm, we sometimes managed to get some time and used to roam around at the nearby malls and sometimes go for a movie. We got a Sunday in between on which we went to visit Tajmahal and Fatehpur Sikri. This being my first visit to Agra I was mesmerized and riveted by the enchanting beauty of the Taj. For a moment I felt like I was on a time-machine and had traveled back to the time when this memorial was built. I was feeling as if I could visualize thousands of skilled artisans diligently toiling hard to erect Shahjehan’s dream obelisk called Tajmahal which was a perfect embodiment of love and passion for a dying Emperor for his beloved wife. We took lots of pictures there and then headed for Fatehpur Sikri.
It was all together different from Tajmahal. Standing in a remote and rural part of Uttar Pradesh it tries to make a bridge between the present and the past. I heard it was part time capital of Emperor Akbar. The bucolic serenity and pastoral beauty of Fatehpur Sikri touched all of us. We visited the holy dargah of Khwaja Mainuddin Chisti and paid homage to him. It was getting dark and we would have to travel through some dusty and broken roads passing through the villages. So even if none of us was feeling like leaving the place we finally had to bid adieu to it. We were late so we had to hurry otherwise we would be missing our dinner.
Next day exactly at 10 am we resumed our daily schedule of attending the lectures. The rest of the week also went well and as usual hurrying through the course material. We had several lectures from people coming from Ref-HQ and Mathura and Panipat Refinery.
Apart from the lectures we used to be taken to the different laboratories and pilot plants where we saw how our own R&D research officers are simulating the real-time plant situation and improvising and innovating new things. Also a quiz was organized on the penultimate day. Questions were set mostly from lessons taught to us in the class and there were prizes for the first two positions. While my friend from GR bagged the first prize I managed to get the second.
On 19th January the program ended with a feedback and a short valedictory session which was followed by tea and final leave-taking. Thus our sojourn to the R&D centre ended but all of us acquired enough treasure under our kitty which not only added value to our professional life but also will be acting as a beckon for my personal development.
NOTE: This travelogue was written in the last year when I went to Faridabad on a training program.
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