BPCL to set up new ₹5,500-crore polypropylene unit in Kochi

BPCL is setting up a new polypropylene unit in Kochi with an investment of ₹5,000 crore, according to Sanjay Khanna, Director (Refineries).

“The job is in progress. This is the second petrochemical unit in Kochi. We plan to commission the unit by October 2027,” he told businessline on the sidelines of the Invest Kerala Global Summit in Kochi.

“Internationally such projects operate at 65 per cent capacity. We operate in the 80 to 90 per cent range. The unit will have an annual capacity of 400,000 tonnes of polypropylene,” he said.

Polypropylene finds wide application in downstream industries such as packaging films, sheet, boxes, containers, bags, home ware, home care, personal care, and articles of day-to-day usage.

The Compressed Biogas Plant (CBP) in Kochi, he said, is expected to be ready by the next quarter, with the capacity to process 150 tonnes of municipal waste per day; it will make 6 tonnes of compressed biogas. Around 40 to 50 tonnes per day of solid waste will become part of the fertiliser.

Asked if BPCL has any plans to extend CBP to other parts, Khanna said “let’s see once it comes up, looking at the success, because the State Government was quite helpful in giving us both land and segregated waste.

We have the expertise to operate and manage the plant. Let us establish the first one and then we will go further,” he said.

BPCL has also signed an MoU with Kinfra to establish a POL terminal with pipleline receipt facility and additional parking area for LPG tankers at Kinfra Industrial & Textile Park in Palakkad. Work on the ₹880-crore project is expected to start in April and would be completed by September 2028.