RIL gets environment clearance for Dahej expansion

Reliance Industries, one of the largest petrochemical companies in India, has recently received environment clearance for expansion and debottlenecking of its Dahej plant at a cost of Rs 13,250 crore. Out of the budget of Rs 13,250 crore, Rs 400 crore would be used for protection and conservation of environment. The clearance has been received from the Ministry of Environment under recommendations received from the Expert Appraisal Committee.

The company intends to expand the plant at Dahej, Bharuch, Gujarat. The plant has unpredictable supply of feed stock, government policy changes relating to focus on domestic supply across industry, and satisfactory shale gas ethane supply. This is because the project will need ethane, lean gas and off gas as major fuels.

Dahej at present uses ethane and propane together to produce downstream products and by-products. Going forward, it will modify the ratio of the raw materials on the back of availability of shale gas ethane, which is imported from the US. This will give higher production of ethylene.