Advantage coal

India’s abundant coal reserves and rising energy demand make coal gasification a key strategy to reduce import dependence

- SUDHEER PAL SINGH

‘The ongoing conflict in West Asia and the larger energy shock it has created for economies around the world have exposed a harsh reality for India: That it must act on a war footing to convert domestically available raw materials into industrial fuels at scale, particularly to gasify coal, as China has done over the years.

In fact, coal gasification is increasingly being considered as a strategy to overcome India’s energy reliance on external sources.

NITI Aayog, the government think-tank for policymaking, noted in a recent report, “Scenarios Towards Viksit Bharat and Net Zero”, that India’s abundant coal reserves, combined with potential carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) deployment, could provide opportunities for cleaner coal utilisation.

“Technologies such as advanced ultrasupercritical plants, coal gasification, and coal-to-chemicals, for example, methanol and ammonia, can offer lower-carbon pathways — especially when integrated with carbon capture and storage technologies,” it said.

Coal gasification, a process involving heat and pressure, converts coal into synthesised gas, or syngas. This gas has wide industrial applications and is seen as a cleaner way to enhance energy security, and reduce reliance on imports of natural gas, methanol and ammonia.

Coal gasification has several other benefits, including seamless CCUS integration, especially in underground plants, and its potential for production of power.

Coal power

India already has an edge, given its vast coal reserves of around 389 billion tonnes, part of which can be diverted away from traditional burning in thermal power plants. But despite such large coal reserves, India has lagged behind China when it comes to coal gasification.