New Delhi: India aims to achieve 100 million tonnes (MT) coal gasification by 2030, said Pralhad Joshi Union Minister of Coal.
“With an investment worth over Rs 4 lakh crore we have planned to achieve the target,” he added. Joshi was addressing a webinar on Monday in New Delhi on coal gasification and liquefaction, organised by the Ministry of Coal (MoC) for discussing the road map for achieving the target.
“Coal Gasification and Liquefaction is no more an aspiration, but a requirement. For encouraging use of clean sources of fuel, the government has provided for a concession of 20 percent on the revenue share of coal used for gasification. This will boost production of synthetic natural gas, energy fuel, and urea for fertilisers and production of other chemicals,” Joshi said.
Reiterating the government’s commitments for green initiatives in the coal sector, Joshi said that coal gasification and liquefaction are well in the government’s agenda and various actions have been taken for the development of surface coal gasification in India.
A steering committee has been constituted in this regard under the chairmanship of Dr VK Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, comprising of members from the Ministry of Coal. CIL has also planned to set up at least three gasification plants (besides Dankuni) on BOO basis through global tendering and has signed an MOU with GAIL for marketing synthetic natural gas.
He urged all the people present in the program to investigate the technical and other aspects related to the coal gasification sector keeping in view the advantages and shortcomings of the country.
This will help us make maximum use of the coal reserves of the country in a consistent manner in line with global standards, he said.
Beside others, Government of India Secretary (Coal) Anil Kumar Jain, CIL Director (Technical) Binay Dayal, CIMFR Director Dr. PK Singh, PDIL General Manager Ashutosh Prasad, JSPil Chairman Naveen Jindal, Mundra Synergy CEO Rajesh Jha, JSPL MD Dr VR Sharma, True North Ventures partner Dr Dev Gavaskar, Air Products Group VP Bob Carter, Air Products Technical Manager Robert Van den Berg and Coal Ministry Coordinator Piyush Kumar also addressed the webinar.
Nearly 700 delegates including officials of Government of India and Coal India and experienced people and representatives from the coal sector participated in the program.