Having tasted success from the country's first-ever coal gasification project, Jindal Steel and Power today said it intends to set up more such plants if adequate supply of raw material is ensured.
JSPL's pioneering Rs 3,000 crore coal-to-gas project at Angul in Odisha, using natural coal as the fuel, meets entire gas requirement of its 1.8 mtpa DRI plant while the rest is commercially sold to others in the neighbouring region.
Utilisation of the plant is just half of 125,000 cubic meter per hour capacity because of the paucity in coal supply as a result of the deallocation of the Utkal 1B mine.
"We are keen on setting up more such projects with the intention to bridge gap between India's domestic production and import of gas. However, we must have a reliable and steady source of coal supply," company's Managing Director and CEO Ravi Uppal said.
The company also needs to ensure that it gets buyer for gas from end-use industries such as fertiliser, chemicals and others. Final call on putting up such plants would be taken only after stabilising the Angul plant, he said.
Stressing on the need for such projects, which might take 30 months to take off from the date of commencing the project work, he said apart from drilling of offshore and onshore gas fields, the option remains for India to bridge the existing demand-supply gap is using coal.
While offshore drilling is an expensive proposition, CBM and coal gasification, both at deep-down and surface levels, could be easier options. Uppal said gas can be produced from the Angul facility at USD 5-5.5 per mmbtu.
"India has billions of tonnes of low-rank coal. Its gasification can help our country overcome the perennial gas shortage problem. Apart from saving precious foreign exchange for our country, this would create employment in the country, boosting the economy," Uppal said.
JSPL has set up the Angul coal gasification project using technology from Lurgi of South Africa.
