Mumbai: Union Minister of Coal, Mines & Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi today said that the Ministry of Coal has allowed concession of 50% in revenue share for coal gasification. Speaking at an Investors’ Meet in Mumbai, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi also pitched for options like manufacturing Hydrogen from Coal to help India become energy independent. Earlier during the day, Joshi launched the closed/discontinued mines of Coal India Ltd. on a revenue-sharing model.
Investor’s Meet on ‘Coal Gasification – Way Forward’ in Mumbai was organized by Coal India and FICCI. The Investor Meet cum workshop aims to encourage effective implementation of Coal Gasification projects and also to ensure ease of doing business in this area.
Minister of State for Coal, Mines & Railways Raosaheb Patil Danve said, ‘Coal Gasification is the need of the hour and a step towards a sustainable future. Union Minister Shri Danve added that the Government aims to gasification of 100 million tonne of coal by 2030. “This will generate jobs in both technical and non-technical sectors,” he added.
Coal gasification is considered a cleaner option compared to the burning of coal. Gasification facilitates utilisation of the chemical properties of coal. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi encouraged the industry players to think about ‘coal to Hydrogen’. During the event, Joshi launched a report ‘Roadmap for Coal to Hydrogen’, prepared by the Ministry of Coal.
Experts from Industry, consultants, researchers, and stakeholders in coal gasification spoke during the event. Apart from Additional Secretary, Ministry of Coal, M. Nagaraju, Chairman CIL Pramod Agarwal, and other industry leaders attended the program.
In order to support coal gasification and availability of coal for the sector at a concessional rate, the Ministry of Coal has introduced a policy for concessions of 50% in revenue share for commercial auction of coal blocks. If the successful bidder consumes the coal produced either in its own plant(s) or plant of its holding, subsidiary, affiliate, or associate for coal gasification or liquefaction or sells the coal for coal gasification or liquefaction on a yearly basis, subject to conditions that at least 10% of scheduled coal production as per approved mining plan for that year shall be consumed or sold for gasification or liquefaction, then the bidder can avail of concessions.
Syn-Gas produced from coal can be used to produce Gaseous Fuels such as Hydrogen (Blue coupled with CCUS), Substitute Natural Gas (SNG or Methane), Di-Methyl Ether (DME), Liquid Fuels such as Methanol, Ethanol, Synthetic diesel, and Chemicals like Methanol derivatives, Olefins, Propylene, Mono-Ethylene Glycol (MEG), nitrogenous fertilizers including Ammonia, DRI, Industrial Chemicals along with Power Generation. These products will help move towards self-sufficiency under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan.
To help India become energy independent, in accordance with the announcement of the Honorable Prime Minister, the Ministry of Coal has prepared a Mission Document for 100 MT Coal Gasification by 2030. An Expert Committee to prepare a Roadmap for Coal to Hydrogen was constituted which has submitted its report and suggested that hydrogen production from domestic coal should be aggressively pursued in our overall hydrogen ecosystem. The Committee also set up a couple of semi-commercial/demonstration gasification units for conversion of coal to Hydrogen integrating with Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage (CCUS) units so that blue hydrogen is produced, which is more acceptable. An Inter-Ministerial Task Force has also been set up by the Ministry of Coal for the implementation of the recommendations of the Expert Committee.
