Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) today said it has bagged the prestigious $8 billion (Rs 42,000 crore) project to convert coal into liquid petroleum and would produce 80,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
"The government of India has allotted Ramchandi promotional coal block in Orissa to JSPL on February 27 for the proposed coal-to-liquid project," JSPL said in a statement.
The entire project is estimated to entail an investment of about Rs 42,000 crore and will come up in Angul district of Orissa, it added.
JSPL said the project will require 30 million tonnes of washed coal to produce 80,000 barrels of crude oil a day and the wastes generated out of the project would be used for generating 1,350 Mw of electricity.
In all, 22 firms including RIL, the Anil Ambani Group's Reliance Infrastructure, SAIL, GAIL, IndianOil, GMR Inra and Vedanta had applied for the pilot project in Orissa.
The Inter-Ministerial Group had recommended JSPL and Tata Group (in JV with Sasol of South Africa) for the coal-to-liquid (CTL) project.
JSPL said the completion of CTL project will enhance the country's energy security by reducing dependence on imported crude.
As for the technology to be used for the project, the Naveen Jindal-led company said it will go for indirect coal liquefaction developed by its German partner Lurgi.
"The project will be based on fixed bed dry bottom technology of Lurgi, which is best suited for Indian coal having high ash," the company said.
It added that the proposed technology is environment friendly and the crude produced by the process will have low polyacromatics while carbon dioxide captured would be used in fertiliser industries for inert purposes.
JSPL plans to use the ash generated from the project for road building, brick making, cement manufacturing and back filing of mines.
The company is already in the process of implementing a six-million tonne steel plant in Orissa.
For the CTL project, the Coal Ministry was offering three coal blocks -- Radhikapur, Srirampur and Ramchandi -- in Orissa with cumulative reserves of about six billion tonnes.
On its website, the ministry had said a 1.5-billion-tonne coal block should enable mining operations of 28-31 million tonnes of run-of-mine coal per annum for 30 years.
