India Has Plans for a Big Push on Coal Gasification to Produce Industrial Chemicals

The coal ministry has plans for a big push on the use of domestic coal through gasification process to produce chemicals like methanol and fertilisers like urea for industrial purposes.

"We plan to come up with a policy draft and a programme on thermal coal gasification applicable for surface coal mines to produce industrial chemicals by 2023-2024," a senior official in the know of the plan told ETEnergyworld.

Coal gasification is the process of producing syngas, a mixture consisting carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), carbon dioxide (CO2), natural gas (CH4), and water vapour (H2O). During gasification, coal is blown with oxygen and steam while also being heated under high pressure. During the reaction, oxygen and water molecules oxidize the coal and produce syngas.

"The work has already started. Talcher Fertilizers Limited, a joint venture company in Odisha is working on coal gasification to produce neem-coated urea. The project has plans to produce approximately 1.26 million metric ton per annum (MMPTA) of neem coated urea using coal as feedstock," said the official.

The under construction plant will employ coal gasification technology for production of urea with an estimated cost of more than Rs 11,600 crore. The plant will be operational by 2023-2024. The unit will utilize about 3.3 MMTPA coal from Talcher Mines. There is also provision of blending up to 25 per cent pet-coke to handle high ash content in coal.

India's largest state-owned miner Coal India Limited also has plans on coal gasification and is working on a coal based methanol plant in Kolkata. The company is aiming to produce 6.76 lakh tonnes of methanol per annum at Dankuni Coal Complex (DCC) of South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL), a subsidiary of the company.

"Coal to methanol is a proven technology and India must tap its large coal reserves to produce methanol as a substitute or drop-in fuel for gasoline and diesel. India has already set itself an ambitious target of 10 per cent reduction in import dependence of oil & gas by 2022 in comparison with 2014-15 levels, which can gel quite well with the use of methanol as an alternate fuel," NITI Aayog had said recently in a policy document titled 'India’s Leapfrog to Methanol Economy'.

The document stated Methanol can be blended with gasoline and diesel, providing an opportunity to reduce dependence on imported crude oil. High methanol blends offer significant vehicle efficiency improvement potential of 25 per cent and also offer an opportunity for railway engines to run on methanol and can facilitate access to clean cooking fuels.

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