Revival of Talcher fertiliser project in limbo?

The Talcher fertiliser project in Odisha, which is being revived by using coal gasification technology, may be headed for rough weather with Coal India Ltd (CIL), one of the key promoters of the project, in a dilemma over its proposed entry into the fertiliser sector, according to a Business Standard report.
 
A senior CIL executive, quoted in the report, said that there is still dilemma over the proposal to enter into coal gasification for fertiliser production as this requires high grade coal which we do not have in plenty now.
 
A long with Coal India, Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCIL), Gail India, and Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (RCF) are involved in the project to revive FCIL’s Talcher unit (which is a sick unit and was shut down in 2000).
 
The Talcher project is expected to produce 1.3 million metric tonnes of urea and 0.33 lakh tonne of ammonium nitrate. The project envisages to use coal gasification technology for the first time in India to produce urea.
 
The acceptance of coal gasification technology, though developed over half a century ago, has gained global momentum only during a last decade or so as oil prices kept their northward movement and countries tried to explore various alternatives to oil. However, this technology has been abundantly used by South Africa, which was forced to develop coal gasification technology as it was subjected to several trade sanctions during its apartheid regime.
 
India has large reserves of coal, but the high ash content makes adoption of this technology costly and cumbersome.
 
For Complete Story Read: Coal India in dilemma over its fertiliser venture