With crude oil price touching its eight years high at USD 108 a barrel, India is planning to use its unutilized coal reserves to ensure energy security by coal gasification and its conversion into precious chemicals mainly ethanol, blue hydrogen, and synthetic diesel.
“This year alone four projects of coal gasification and conversion of coal into chemicals are going to be set up by the Coal India Ltd (CIL) on BOO (Build Own and Operate) basis,” said a senior officer of the Coal Ministry here on Wednesday..
The Ministry has invited experts from the Industry, Academia, Research Organizations, and Engineering consultations along with policy makers on Wednesday to discuss effective implementation of the Coal Gasification Mission, he said.
India has a coal reserve of 307 Billion Metric Tons and 80 % of the coal produced goes to produce thermal electricity. However, there is still enough coal which is unfit for thermal power plants and uneconomical for its transportation.
“Government has targeted to convert 100 Million Metric Tonnes of coal annually by 2030 into gas and other chemical products to cut India’s import bill on petroleum and chemical products,” he said.
Out of the total coal production, 10 % of it cannot be used for thermal power generation and its transportation is uneconomical. Government is planning to set up the coal conversion plants near these coal fields so as to convert it in Syngas, Blue hydrogen, SNG gas (substitute off natural gas), liquid fuels including methanol, ethanol, and synthetic diesel.
Government is also planning to convert unutilized coal into petro chemicals like olefins, propylene, mono-ethylene glycol, Ammonia for nitrogenous fertilizers, and other industrial chemicals, the Ministry said.
Presently, the most advanced stage of implementation is by the JSPL, which is operating a gas-based DRI plant at Angul (Odisha) using Moving bed/ Fixed bed dry bottom technology gasifying domestic high ash coal.
Another plant by a private company Talcher Fertilizer Limited (TFL) is also under construction, which would mix the pet coke in high ash domestic thermal coal for urea production using Entrained Bed Technology.