.

COAL GASIFICATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

OF ENERGY SECTOR IN INDIA
o

1. Introduction

2. Merits of Coal Gasification Technology

3. Sustainable Development Through Coal Gasification :

3.1 Coal Washing

3.2 Power Generation

3.3 Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC)

Electric Power Generation.

3.4 Integrated Gasification Fuel Cell

3.5 Other Technologies

3.6 Synthetic Oil

3.7 Natural Gas Substitution

3.8 Steel Making

3.9 Coal chemicals :

3.10 Once Through Methanol

3.11 Underground Coal Gasification

3.12 Miscellaneous Uses

4. Strategy & Approach

4.1 Immediate

4.2 Short Term

4.3 Long Term

4.4 Financial Aspects

5. Conclusions

References

Summary
1

COAL GASIFICATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF

ENERGY SECTOR IN INDIA, RAO, O.P.,
COUNCIL OF SCIENTIFIC & INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH,
New Delhi, India
1. Introduction
India has relatively large reserves of coal (202 billion tonnes)
compared to crude oil (728 million tonnes) and natural gas (686
billion cubic meters). Coal meets about 60% of the commercial
energy needs and about 70% of the electricity produced in India
comes from coal [1]. The coal resources which are in substantial
commercial use and their utilisation technologies will be vital factors
in shaping economic and societal progress, as India moves into the
next millennium. Advanced technologies when applied to Indian coal
resources, can improve the efficiency and minimise environmental
impacts of coal utilisation. A balance is necessary between short term
imperatives and long term possibilities to enable sustainable
development. To pursue such a strategy technologies are available
and are also under development.
Though coal is relatively a long lasting fuel, the quality in general is
inferior with mineral content as high as 50%. Since reserves of oil and
natural gas are meager, they need to be substituted with coal to the
extent feasible. At the same time all the three fuels, specially coal
needs to be conserved for the future generations. The energy sector,
requires efficient, clean and dependable energy supplies. Hence coal
has to be utilised with multi pronged strategy i.e. higher efficiency,
2

environmental acceptance, prolonging its availability and as

replacement for oil etc. which is possible only through sustainable
development and gasification is the best option to achieve it.

2. Merits of Coal Gasification Technology

Gasification of coal is an old, and well proven technology that has
attracted renewed interest and is now undergoing modernisation. In
the early part of this century a large number of coal gasifiers were
commercially operated in several countries. With the availability of
abundant and inexpensive natural gas and crude oil most of the coal
gasification units were abandoned by mid 50's. The oil crises
situation and together with the potential capability of integrated
gasification combined cycle power plants to compete favourably with
direct coal combustion for electric power generation have significantly
increased the attractiveness of coal gasification technology and
reduced its economic risk.
Coal gasification offers a practical means of utilising coal for meeting
stringent environmental control requirements. In the gasification
process sulfur present in the coal is converted to hydrogen sulfide
(H2S) and minor amounts of carbonyl sulfide (COS). These sulfur
compounds can be easily and economically removed from gas
streams by a wide variety of commercially available processes (i.e.
acid gas removal systems). From the acid gas, elemental sulfur is
recovered. After the acid gas removal treatment only few ppms of
3

sulfur remains in the coal gas. Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are not formed
to any appreciable extent in the reducing atmosphere of coal
gasification. The particulate content in the fuel gas after gasification is
negligible since the gas cleaning steps (hot cyclones, water scrubbing
or hot gas cleaning) capture almost all the particulate. Except hot gas
cleanup, other two systems are commercially established and
practised. The waste waters from gasification plants can be
effectively treated. The coal gasification plants do not produce any
scrubber sludge which need careful and costly disposal. Coal ash
from gasifier is not hazardous and its leaching effect is low.
Coal gasification process has several other advantages besides
minimum environmental impacts which are briefly mentioned here. A
broad range of coals with varying ash content, coal fines, middlings
and washery rejects can be successfully gasified. Variation in the
feed coal quality has minimal adverse effects on gasification process.
Coal can be fed to the gasifier in the form of crushed coal up to 50
mm size, coal fines, pulverised coal or coal water slurry depending
upon the generic type of gasification process (i.e., moving bed,
fluidised bed and entrained bed). Air or oxygen can be used as
gasification medium. Carbon conversion efficiency of as high as 99%
can be attained in the gasification process.
The major advantage of gasification is that coal is converted into a
gaseous fuel which is easy to handle and is a clean form of energy. In
the gaseous form it enables to substitute petroleum products and
natural gas. The synthesis gas has wide range of applications. It can
be used in a combined cycle system for efficient and clean generation
4

of electric power. It is suitable for the manufacturing of hydrogen and

chemicals such as ammonia, methanol, acetic acid; as substitute
natural gas, and as a reducing gas for metallurgical purposes etc. It
can be used in multipurpose plants for the simultaneous production of
electric power, chemicals/fertilisers and fuels which also improve the
economics of coal gasification.
3. Sustainable Development Through Coal Gasification:
According to the World Commission on Environment and
Development, Sustainable Development is the exploitation of
resources (i.e. coal resources), the orientation of technological
developments (i.e. coal utilisation technologies) and the direction of
investments must be in harmony to enhance both current and future
potential to meet human needs (i.e. energy). Sustainable
development aims to promote economic growth, efficient use of
natural resources and their secured long term supply and protection
of environment to ensure survival of the future generations.
3.1 Coal Washing
Bulk of the coal reserves (i.e. about 73%) in India are of inferior grade
non coking coals with ash content as high as 45-50%. Coal for Indian
power plants is supplied from these reserves. With utilisation of
relatively good quality coal over a period of time, the average ash
content of coal being mined at present has gone up to 40-45% and
the average calorific value has come down to around 3500 kcal/kg.
Opencast mining has been adopted on large scale (i.e. 75% of coal
5

production) to meet the demand of power sector as a result the

quality of coal is further deteriorating with the addition of dirt and
stones etc. from the overburden. The emphasis on opencast coal
mining is likely to continue. Hence it is expected that in future, coal
produced may have higher ash content than what is produced now.
Likely trend of production of different quality coals in future is given in
Table 1 [2].
Washing of coal particularly when long distance transportation is
involved, has distinct advantages in the performance of power plants
which have been demonstrated. However, washing also creates
problems of its own like increased production and handling of rejects
etc. The rejects must be utilised to improve economics of washing
and reduce pollution. It is now required that except for pithead plants
or power plants located within few hundreds of kilometres from coal
mines, all projects located more than 1000 kms away from the coal
sources and also the plants located in urban areas will be required to
use washed coal with ash content of about 34%, which still appears
to be quite high. An important issue to be addressed in this context is
the agency for establishing washeries, whether it is coal company or
power plant or independent agency. The issue needs to be resolved
for wider application of coal washing for power generation in India.
Washing of coal on commercial scale for power generation is yet to
commence in India.
To make matters worst, such high ash coals are usually very difficult
to wash by ordinary washing technologies because the mineral
matter is finely intergrown with the fine physical material of coal and
6

are not easily liberated unless ground to very fine sizes. Fine coal
washing requires expensive dewatering systems and the benefits of
washing are lost by the presence of moisture in the washed fines.
The presence of large amount of near gravity material to the extent of
70-80% causes migration of large amount of sinks in floats and floats
in sinks. As a result the yield of clean coal is less and the
middlings/rejects are more making the washing of coals technoeconomically unattractive specially when the ash content aimed is
below 25%. Wide fluctuation in ash content of coal seams require
design of washing circuits capable of dealing with wide variations in
mineral matter. On account of these factors, coal washing not only
poses technical challenges, but economically also the washing plants
may be costlier than those in other countries for comparable
throughputs. Hence technology of utilising raw and unwashed coal is
attractive to India. Coal gasification is such a technology.

3.2 Power Generation

About 70% of the electricity generated in India comes from coal and
the power sector continues to be the major consumer of coal for
years to come. Projections on coal based installed capacity and coal
requirement up to the year 2006-07 are given in Table 2 [3].
Power generation from coal in India is based on combustion in
boilers. Coal when directly combusted generates air emissions that
must be controlled particularly sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides
7

which cause acid rain, smog and ozone depletion etc. Methods to
control sulfur emissions with flue gas scrubbers encounter several
operating problems and high costs. Capital cost of flue gas
desulfurisation in wet scrubber is around US$120-210 /KW and
consumes 1 to 3% of auxiliary power. Luckily sulfur in Indian coals is
low generally below 0.5% except coals found in north eastern region.
Hence flue gas desulfurisation is not required at present for Indian
power plants. Even when it is necessary coal gasification technology
is inexpensive and attractive for Indian coals, since the process has
inbuilt removal/control capabilities for sulfur/nitrogen emissions. The
technologies of low NOx burners and overfire air are practised to
control NOx emissions. Both the technologies combinedly can reduce
NOx by 40 to 60% only, and cost about 200-400 US$ per ton of NOx
removed. On the other hand coal gasification has inherent
characteristics of removal of sulfur emission up to 99% and NOx by
60-90% without incorporating special and costly external control
systems [4].
The high mineral matter content in Indian coals posses several
problems such as low calorific value, delayed combustion, corrosion,
erosion, deposits, fouling and slagging. The fly ash in Indian coals
has significant amounts of mullite (5 to 30%) and quartz (up to 30%)
which are mainly responsible for causing erosion specially of
pulverisers, boiler tubes and I.D. fans etc. [5]. Due to poor quality of
coal, Indian power plants are achieving only 63% PLF while it is
above 80% in advanced countries. Similarly the specific coal
consumption i.e. kg of coal consumed per kwh of power generated is
8

very high in India, of the order of 0.8 compared to 0.5 in advanced

countries. According to a study conducted in one of the power plants
in India, the boiler availability reduced by 1.5% at the ash level of 3235%, 6% at ash level of 36-38% and 12% at the ash level of 40% [6].
Not only poor quality, but its unlimited variation in the parameters like
moisture, volatile matter and ash often experienced are more
detrimental to the performance of power plants i.e. it results in
increased oil consumption etc. Higher mineral content results in more
forced outages and high maintenance cost. Thus there is a need for
power generation technology which can use high ash coals with wide
fluctuation in quality more efficiently and with least pollution. The coal
gasification route in place of direct combustion is a promising
technology for Indian coals to achieve these objectives since it has
inherent characteristics of complete removal of particulate without the
help of an electro staticprecipitator.
3.3 Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) Electric
Power Generation
Coal based electric power generation (i.e., direct combustion of coal
in stoker fired and pulverised coal fired boilers) has historically been
the backbone of the electric utility industry and this technology is well
proven. But the technology has reached a plateau of maximum
efficiency with only marginal potential for further improvements due to
technical limitations.
In addition to this limitation on efficiencies, tightening of
environmental control requirements have resulted in substantial
9

increase in both capital and operating costs to reduce emissions from

conventional coalfired power plants and also in lowering plant
efficiency and reliability, on the otherhand coal gasification
technology has emerged as the most environmentally benign and
competitive way of coal utilisation. Thus it would be of enormous
benefit to the electric utility industry to find some practical means for
combining the high efficiency of combined cycle system with the
clean coal gasification-process for utilising coal which is a low cost
and abundantly available fossil fuel. This has lead to the development
of IGCC Power system.
IGCC is the technology designed to meet the higher efficiency and
stringent environmental regulations required in the 21st century.
IGCC systems have the potential to compete economically with
conventional coalfired steam plants and have lowest possible level of
pollution. As environmental control requirements increase, the
economic advantages of IGCC would correspondingly increase.
Similarly with further developments in coal gasification and gas
turbine technologies taking place, the economic and performance
benefits of IGCC would increase significantly. The efficiency of IGCC
which is now around 40-45% is likely to increase to 55-60%. The
capital cost of large and mature technology IGCC plants and PC
plants with FGD are projected to be nearly same. IGCC is the most
economical system when compared to the conventional pulverised
coal fired plant for removal of sulfur and nitrogen. With high sulfur
coals the efficiency difference between the two plants is higher since
the auxiliary power consumption for the sulfur removal is up to 3% in
10

the flue gas desulfurisation (FGD) unit of coalfired plant and

negligible in the IGCC plant.
IGCC plants require less water than coal fired plant as approximately
60% of power is generated from gas turbine. IGCC plants also
require less land. IGCC systems are highly modular which enable
phased construction and higher plants availability up to 85% or about
7400 hours per year of plant operation [7] and economy at smaller
capacities of the order of 250 MW. Introduction of IGCC technology to
utilities can create new business opportunities in the co-production of
electricity with chemicals, liquid fuels etc.
As the global demand for coal increases, worldwide carbon emissions
will also increase. It is estimated that if all power producers were to
use the most efficient clean coal technologies, IGCC being one of
them, global carbon dioxide emissions could be cut by more than
half, compared with the levels that would be emitted by the existing
power plant technologies, i.e. pulverised coalfired [8].
The expert group on IGCC technology appointed by Govt. of India
has prepared a Techno-Economic Feasibility Report (TEFR) in the
year 1991 comparing the operational performance and economics of
IGCC and PC based power generation for a 600 MW capacity plant
with 35% ash coal. According to the results of the study given in
Table 3 IGCC is more efficient, pollution is very less and capital and
generation costs are comparable with PC plant [7].
IGCC technology is now moving from drawing board to commercial
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scale. A 250 MW IGCC plant of Tampa Electric Co. USA has

successfully completed one year of commercial operation. The
wabash project in USA of 262 MW IGCC plant began its commercial
operation in November 1995. Sierra pacific pinion pine IGCC project,
USA of 107 MW capacity is undergoing operation trials. A 250 MW
IGCC plant at Buggenum, Netherlands has entered its final
demonstration year. The capital cost of IGCC plant now is around
$2000/kW which is likely to come down to $1500/kW. The global
market for IGCC is expected to be 41 GW by 2004 [9].
3.4 Integrated Gasification Fuel Cell
Fuel cell is the most efficient and the least polluting system of power
generation. Out of the 3 fuel cell systems based on the type of
electrolyte used i.e. Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell (PAFC) Molten
Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) and Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC), the
latter two are suitable to utilise coal gas which resulted in the
development of Integrated Gasification Fuel Cell (IGFC) System.
PAFC is nearly commercial and the other two (MCFC and SOFC) are
at development stage.
IGFC can attain efficiencies up to 60% and are cool enough to
prevent NOx formation. Sulfur and particulate present in the coal are
removed during the gasification process before feeding the fuel gas
to the fuel cell. A comparison between the emissions of a coalfired
conventional power plant and IGFC system is given in the table 4
which shows that fuel cell generates extremely clean power [10].

12

There are two major challenges with respect to commercialisation of

fuel cell: initial cost and reliable life. The two problems have to be
solved to improve the economics of fuel cell.

3.5 Other Technologies

In addition to IGCC, two other relevant technologies for power
generation are : Pressurised Fluidised Bed Combustion (PFBC) and
High Concentration Coal Water Slurry (HCCWS). The PFBC
technology is demonstrated in 80-100 MW scale abroad. The PFBC
is dependant on hot gas cleaning for the removal of particulate from
the flue gases or on a heavy duty gas turbine which can tolerate
particulate matter in the flue gases. Both hot gas cleanup and heavy
duty gas turbine are under development. IGCC also incorporates a
hot gas cleanup system which increases the overall efficiency, but
wet scrubbing by water can be employed in place of hot gas cleanup
with some loss in efficiency. Thus PFBC compared to IGCC is
constrained by availability of hot gas cleanup technology. Another
major disadvantage with PFBC is that more power is generated from
steam turbine which is less efficient compared to gas turbine.
Whereas in IGCC, more power is generated from the gas turbine and
hence is more efficient. Continuous developments are taking place in
the gas turbine technology which could result in higher efficiencies in
IGCC beyond 50%. Such improvements in the steam turbine are
limited.

13

HCCWS consisting of 70% solids and 30% water is used for power
generation either through combustion or gasification route. High ash
content in the coal thermally penalises the conversion processes of
coal slurry resulting in lower and uneconomical efficiencies. Therefore
the coals have to be necessarily washed to bring down the ash
content to around 15% to improve the efficiency and economics. But
the cost of preparation of slurry itself depends upon the technoeconomics of washing which are at present unattractive for high ash
coals. Thus application of HCCWS technology to high ash coal
mainly depends on technoeconomics of washing the coal.
3.6 Synthetic Oil
The commercial application of liquefaction of coal for production of oil
had taken place in unusual circumstances where price had been a
less critical factor than secured or strategic supply. This was in
Germany, during world war II when a wide range of transportation
fuels were produced from coal to supply the war machines. Since
1955 South Africa is producing liquid fuels from coal due to lack of
petroleum and natural gas reserves but abundance of coal reserves
and political factors. Efforts at commercial production of liquid fuels
from coal have taken place in the US (Synfuels program), UK and
Japan without actual full scale development. The main reason for not
going up to commercial operation in these countries has been the
availability of inexpensive petroleum supplies in abundance both
domestic and imported.
The consumption of petroleum products in India has been increasing
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at a rapid pace. It has increased from 30.9 million tonnes in 1980-81

to 57 mt in 1991-92 @ annual compound growth rate of 5.7%. The
growth rate increased further to 7% after 1991-92 after liberalisation
of economy and the consumption reached 80 million tonnes in 199697. Out of the total consumption of petroleum products, the middle
distillates account for 63% in 1995 [1,4] Several reasons for steep
rise in demand for petroleum products in general and middle
distillates in particular are i) Change over from coal to oil as primary
source of energy ii) Unprecedented growth in personal vehicles (iii)
electric power shortages which prompted industrial and commercial
establishments and large residential complexes to install diesel
generators and agricultural consumers to install diesel pump sets as
standby measure (iv) rising share of diesel based transport both road
and rail transport (v) increase in kerosene consumption for household
sector due to low availability of traditional fuels (vi) subsidies on
prices.
The indigenous petroleum production which had also grown
correspondingly from 6.8 mt in 1970-71 to 32.9 mt in 1996-97 could
not meet the demand. To bridge the gap India is importing large
quantities of crude oil and petroleum products. In 1985-86, India's net
imports were 16.5 mt which has increased steeply to 43.4 mt in 1996.
In the year 1996-97 the import bill towards petroleum and petroleum
products was US$10,081 million which was 26% of the total import
bill. With the depreciation of rupee, the share in rupee terms was
even higher. On the basis of current trends, the total consumption by
the year 2010-2011 could be close to 200 million tonnes which is
15

about 3 fold increase from the present consumption. Import is much

more than indigenous production. The extent of self sufficiency in oil
which was peaking at 70% in 1984-85 has been consistently
declining which reached to 40% in 1996-97 and is likely to decline
further to 35% in a couple of years [1,13]. The trend is causing
concern since India is emerging rapidly as a major consumer of oil
products.
As experienced on several occasions, petroleum supplies and prices
are greatly influenced by political policies. There have been several
price hikes in oil since 1971. In all the cases, India was one of the
hardest hit countries. It is possible that OPEC countries can reduce
direct export of crude and substitute with finished petroleum products
so that the exporting countries can reap the benefits of maximum
value addition. In such a situation, oil may not be available in
adequate quantities and also at affordable prices. Economy of India
which is highly dependent on oil imports will suffer a great setback.
The infrastructure for oil refinery available in India would be under
utilised.
The success of liberalisation policy and economic reforms introduced
in the country is largely dependent on adequate availability of energy
resources at affordable prices and oil has a significant place in it.
Therefore any disruptions in oil supplies would hamper progress of
the country. Thus from consideration of national self reliance, security
and assured energy supply, production of oil in India from alternate
source i.e. coal is justified.

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There are 3 routes for liquefaction of coal i.e., direct hydrogenation of

coal, hydrogenation of coal tar and gasification followed by FisherTropsch (F-T) synthesis. The process of direct hydrogenation of coal
requires coal with very low ash content, below 10% and hence is not
suitable to India due to very high ash content in Indian coals. The
process of hydrogenation of tar obtained from coal carbonisation is
also not applicable due to inadequate availability of tar. The route of
gasification followed by F-T synthesis is the most suitable one for
Indian coals. South Africa at Sasol is producing liquid fuels from coal
based on gasification and F-T synthesis. The gasification process
adopted at Sasol is moving bed process which is also proven with
Indian coals. The successful operation of Sasol plant gives more
confidence to India for adopting gasification route for producing oil
from coal [11].
The option of conversion of coal into synthetic liquid fuels, had been
under the consideration of the Government of India since 1950.
Several committees appointed by the Government had examined the
feasibility of producing oil from coal and recommended for setting up
commercial plants of capacity up to 1 million tonnes per year in the
country. The proposals did not materialise mainly due to economic
reasons. For example the estimates made in 1982 had indicated a
capital cost of Rs.16,110 million ($1667 million) for 1 mtpa plant and
cost of production of $35 per barrel [11].
Coal accounts for 69% of world's fossil fuel reserve, while it is only
17% for oil [8]. Major consumption of oil is in the transport sector.
Hence many scientists and engineers believe that coal liquefaction
17

would be required to meet the demand for liquid transportation fuels.

However, world development of coal liquefaction will depend upon
both economics and the reliability of petroleum and natural gas
supplies from the middle East and other main exporting areas.
3.7 Natural Gas Substitution
The emerging role of natural gas in Indian energy sector is evident
from the increase in its share in primary energy supply from 2% in
1989 to 8% in 1996 and also increase in its production from 3.1 to
19.4 billion cubic meters during the same period. Natural gas is used
in India for both energy and non energy purposes. The major
consumers are: 42% for fertiliser production, 38% for power
generation and 13% as industrial fuel. At present about 5500 MW of
gas based power plants are in operation in the country [1]. The total
installed capacity of gas based power plant is proposed to be about
13,300 MW by the year 2001-02. The gas is in short supply for the
power plants to the extant of 50%. The import of gas has been
considered but so far large scale imports have not materialised.
Liquid fuel has been used to supplement natural gas in the power
plants. It appears that generation of power with liquid fuels is
economically not very attractive and power generation using imported
naptha is higher than the cost of power generation using domestic
coal almost at all locations. For example the cost of power generation
with domestic coal and imported naphtha at Delhi are estimated at
Rs.1.99 & 2.57 (5.1 & 6.8 cents) respectively [3]. Natural gas is a
preferred fuel for the manufacture of fertilisers, petrochemicals, and
sponge iron etc. The natural gas used for power generation can be
18

used for these purposes if it can be replaced by an alternate fuel gas.

The fuel gas produced by gasifying coal would be suitable to burn in
the existing gas turbines of the combined cycle plant. The conversion
from natural gas to coal based fuel gas needs addition of a coal
gasification system in the combined cycle plant.

3.8 Steel Making

A serious concern regarding coking coal resources in the country is
the limited reserves of prime coking coal and its quality, the gross
reserves of which are estimated at 5.3 billion tonnes (2.6% of total
coal reserves). Bulk of this prime coking coal is of high ash content
and requires washing prior to coke making. The reserves of medium
coking and semi coking coals are relatively better placed at about 18
billion tonnes. But in view of the limited reserves of prime coking coal,
the medium and semi coking coal cannot be used in its totality as
ternary blend for manufacture of metallurgical coke. As a result, India
is relying on imports of low ash prime coking coals to blend with
Indian washed coking coals. Indian coking coals have ash content
varying from 15% to 35% and are also difficult to wash. Due to poor
quality of mined coal, the washed coal is having higher ash content of
22-23%, against the designed value of 17%, which is adversely
affecting the productivity and economics of steel production. To
reduce the ash content in the coal blend, higher quantity of imported
coal is being used. The imports of coking coal are steadily going up
on the plea that the domestic coking coals are deficient in quality and
19

quantity. Coal imports & during the past 8 years i.e. between 1989 to
1997 have almost doubled from 4.7 to 9.2 million tonnes [13].
In India the reserves of non coking coal are abundant (174 billion
tonnes) compared to coking coal (30 billion tonnes). It would
therefore be a good strategy to use more of non coking coal for
metallurgical purposes so as to conserve coking coals and reduce
their imports. Fuel gas generated from the gasification of inferior
grade non coking coals, can be injected into the blast furnace which
reduces the coke rate. Fuel gas acts as a reducing agent as well as
an energy source and therefore a complete replacement for coke. As
particulate and sulfur are completely removed from coal in the
gasification system, the fuel gas injection into the blast furnace can
reduce the flux requirement and ferromanganese addition. Fuel gas
from coal gasification is also used for production of sponge iron which
is a substitute for scrap and also a raw material for steel production.
There is shortage of scrap in the country which is met by imports.
3.9 Coal chemicals:
Coal was the main source for a variety of chemicals like benzene,
toluene, xylene, naphthalene, anthracene, phenol etc. till the second
world war. These chemicals present in coal tar obtained by
carbonisation of coal were the raw material for the production of
pharmaceuticals, dyes, resins, plastics, and explosives. The first
polyethylene plant of Dupont was based on ethylene from coal gas.
There are three important routes to convert coal to useful chemicals,
one of them is gasification technology to produce synthesis gas as a
20

feed material for chemicals. The wide spectrum of possible chemicals

from synthesis gas include ethylene, methanol, formaldehyde, acetic
acid, ethylacetate, etc. The synthesis gas opens up the field for C1
chemistry. At Sasol in South Africa, chemicals ranging from alphaolefins, waxes, solvents, paraffin, ketones, alcohols and acids are
produced from synthesis gas obtained from coal gasification.
Ammonia has also been made from the hydrogen present in the
synthesis gas obtained from gasification of coal. A number of such
coal based fertiliser plants have been setup in many countries
including 3 plants in India.
Petroleum and natural gas are currently the principal sources of basic
organic intermediates namely ethylene, propylene, butadiene,
benzene, toluene, xylenes and methanol. The organic chemical
industry which depends upon petrochemical building block could face
a serious feedstock problems due to any disruptions in oil supplies. In
such situations, synthetic gas from coal can be a suitable feedstock.
Technologies are available in India for production of coal chemicals.
3.10 Once Through Methanol
This concept was conceived at EPRI in an effort to devise a scheme
for the economic production of a storable fuel from coal. This concept
involves co-production of methanol and electricity in an integrated
gasification combined cycle power plant. Electric utilities are
interested in methanol because it is an excellent fuel for meeting the
peak load demand. Further more, it is easily stored, efficient and
21

environmentally clean coal fuel. It has been tested as a fuel for both
gas turbines and boilers. Methanol produced from once through plant
can displace the petroleum fuels. Based on the experience so far, it
can be said that co-production of methanol and electricity by the once
through scheme promises to be an economically attractive solution
for electric utility for a clean burning, and storable fuel offering
longterm security of supply. Methanol is also a feedstock for several
chemicals like ethanol and ethylene glycol etc.
A study carried out by EPRI had shown that methanol produced in
the once through mode, integrated with an IGCC power plant owned
by a regulated utility can be cheaper by 38% than dedicated
methanol manufactured by a non regulated company [12].

3.11 Underground Coal Gasification

This technique can be applied to generate energy from coal seams
occurring deep below the surface generally not amenable, technically
or economically, to extraction with known mining techniques. In a
workshop organised on underground coal gasification at Delhi, in
India in September 1987 it was opined that the technology is highly
relevant and very promising to India. Two sites in India one in
Rajastan and another in Bengal-Bihar initially appear to be suitable
for application of underground coal gasification. Many more areas
could be amenable.

22

3.12 Miscellaneous Uses

Fuel gas from coal gasification can find many uses in industry and
domestic sectors for heating and energy purposes. In 1996, 4.6
million tonnes of furnace oil which was 10% of total petroleum
products was consumed in the industry. Fuel gas can supplement the
furnace oil in firing of industrial furnaces. Fuel gas as town gas can
be piped to homes and hotels for cooking supplementing the LPG
presently used whose consumption was 1.2 million tonnes in 1996.
The town gas can also reduce demand for kerosene whose
consumption in 1996 was 4.7 million tonnes.
4. Strategy & Approach
A three pronged approach i.e. immediate, short term and long term is
suggested for India for sustainable development of energy sector
through the application of coal gasification technology.

4.1 Immediate
The immediate targets are to establish coal gasification and IGCC
technologies for commercial application.
Indian scientists and engineers have gained experience in the
gasification of coals through moving bed process on pilot /
demonstration scale. The moving bed process (Lurgi dry ash
process) is commercially proven for high ash coals in Germany and
23

South Africa for power generation, manufacture of synthesis gas,

chemicals and liquid fuels. Therefore it may be a low risk or mostly no
risk strategy to pursue with moving bed gasification process. The first
priority of use of coal gas should be for power generation. India need
to build the first IGCC plant based on moving bed process of size
around 60 MW to accommodate one train of gasification and power
islands. The plant should be extensively instrumented and thoroughly
experimented with various coals to develop full indigenous capability
for setting up of large scale plants in India.
Fluidised bed gasification process is superior to moving bed process
for utilisation of high ash Indian coals through gasification route. The
experience on fluidised bed process is very limited in the country.
Internationally also, the experience gained so far is only for low ash
coals. The first IGCC demonstration plant of 107 MW based on air
blown, pressurised, fluidised bed process (i.e. KRW process) has
been established at Reno, USA (Pinion pine IGCC power project).
Operation of the plant has been initiated. Results and performance of
this plant would be very useful to India in adopting the fluidised bed
process.
India can go in for hybrid concept i.e. a combination of moving bed
and fluidised bed gasification processes at one location to select the
best among the two. By the time the first IGCC demonstration plant of
60 MW capacity based on moving bed process is commissioned, the
results from Pinion pine project are likely to be available, based on
which a fluidised bed coal gasification system can be added by the
side of moving bed plant at the same location. India is a vast country
24

having coal as the major energy source. It will be advantageous to

adopt two coal gasification processes. The hybrid concept results in
the economy of coal since all the coal supplied to a power plant can
be utilised i.e. 6 to 50 mm sized coal for moving bed and the coal
below 6 mm for fluidised bed. Moreover moving bed cannot tolerate
more than 10% of coal fines due to operational problems.
4.2 Short Term
The targets for short term can be: i) to construct commercial scale
IGCC plants of capacity 250 MW and above ii) converting existing
thermal power plants to IGCC iii) use of synthesis coal gas for
production of chemicals, fertilisers and steel.
The IGCC demonstration plant is likely to give enough confidence for
the design of commercial plants in five years period from the date of
commencement of its construction. Once the IGCC technology is
established in the country, all future coal based power plants can be
in IGCC mode. A plant of 250 MW capacity IGCC appears to be
economical on commercial scale.
The conventional coal based thermal power generation is well
established in the country and is a major infrastructure in the power
sector. Its output and environmental conditions can be improved by
converting them into IGCC plants through repowering by putting up a
coal gasification system and gas turbine. A beginning can be made in
this direction by converting the large number of small capacity (20-30
MW) plants which were set up during sixties and seventies.
25

Indians have experience in the production of chemicals from tar

obtained from coal carbonisation in coke ovens and fertilisers through
coal gasification. This experience will be helpful in the manufacture of
chemicals from the synthesis gas produced from coal gasification.
The same IGCC demonstration plant, after it generates enough data
on IGCC, can be utilised for establishing the production of chemicals
and fertilisers from synthesis gas. For this purpose, adequate
demonstration facilities need to be added by planning them well in
advance.
4.3 Long Term
The long term targets can be: i) Replacing the natural gas with coal
gas in the existing combined cycle power plants ii) Establishment of
advanced power generation technologies based on coal gas i.e., fuel
cell. iii) Commercial plants for coal to oil and coal refinery. iv) Self
reliance and security in energy sector v) Substitution of exhaustible
with renewable energy sources.
Natural gas is being used for power generation in the country and it is
rightly so for accelerated growth of power sector. There are plans for
import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and naphtha etc. for power
sector mostly by independent power producers. This could be
allowed as a short term measure as dictated by the market forces.
But as a long term measure the natural gas and liquid fuels need to
be replaced by coal gas.
Fuel cell is highly efficient and an ultra clean power generation
26

technology from coal. The country needs it in highly environmentally

sensitive areas or strategic locations. These technologies are now at
infant stages of development in advanced countries. It may reach the
commercial stage when India needs it. At that time India can
establish/adapt the technology for Indian coals and conditions.
India is highly dependent on imported oil with a heavy drain on
foreign exchange earnings. This trend is not likely to change very
much in foreseeable future. Finding of any large reserves of oil in the
country is not in sight. Oil can be substituted with coal, but for certain
applications it has to be converted into liquid form. Several experts
have already recommended the coal gasification route for liquefaction
of Indian coals. Considering several aspects, the option of coal to oil
seems to be an unavoidable strategy for India.
The setting up of coal to oil conversion plants should not be
evaluated purely from commercial angle, but security, self reliance
and conserving oil should merit serious consideration. Coal to oil
technology can be considered on the same footing as atomic energy
which had paid dividends by bringing the country to self reliant status.
A concept of coal refinery is mooted now and may be put in practice
as a long term strategy to substitute the imported oil.
Besides coal, oil and natural gas, India has vast thorium resources of
over 360,000 tonnes which can sustain about 300,000 MW for about
300 years. Regarding renewable energy resources, India has
potential of hydro 84,000 MW, wind energy 20,000 MW, biomass
27

17,000 MW and small hydro 10,000 MW etc. Only about 25% of the
renewable energy potential is exploited so far.
To meet the long term perspective in energy sector the strategy
should be the maximum utilisation of renewables and minimum use of
exhaustible in order to conserve them specially coal and oil since
they have more essential uses which cannot be met by other energy
sources. The substitution measures can also relate to replacement of
one exhaustible i.e. oil by another exhaustible i.e. coal. This strategy
must be temporary. But the long term strategy should be to
supplement them with renewable energy sources.

4.4 Financial Aspects

Large amounts of capital are required to setup commercial plants to
produce fuel gas from coal gasification as a feedstock for gaseous
and liquid fuels and chemicals etc. Majority of the technologies
available on commercial scale for production of the above products
are based on coals with different characteristics than that of Indian
coals specially ash content and ash fusion temperature which are
low. Therefore these technologies cannot be applied directly to Indian
coals but have to be adapted through indigenous demonstration and
R&D before setting up large commercial scale plants in the country.
Thus India needs capital for R&D, demonstration of technology with
Indian coals and for commercial plants. India is short of funds for
capital investment. Foreign or Indian entrepreneurs seldom come
28

forward to invest in R&D and demonstration of foreign technologies

with Indian coals. They would be interested only in business to get
profitable returns on investment. It therefore becomes main
responsibility of the Government to fund demonstration activities.
An option that can be followed by India for funding demonstration
activities is to adopt the strategy followed by the U.S. Department of
Energy for the Clean Coal Technology Program (known as the CCT
program). It is a model of Government and industry partnership for
technology advancement. The industry is sharing 65% of the cost.
The demonstration plants are setup at commercial scale in the user's
premises. Industry retains intellectual property rights. The
Government's share in the cost of a project is refunded by the
industry only upon commercialisation of the technology. It means the
risk involved is funded by the Government. It is felt that such a type of
arrangement is necessary in India. In addition to this Government can
also give incentives to the builders of demonstration / commercial
plants in India to promote coal gasification and its application
technologies.
5. Conclusions
Coal is relatively a large fossil fuel reserve in India meeting about
60% of the commercial energy needs and accounting for 70% of
power requirements. Supremacy of coal in India's energy sector
would continue. Majority of Indian coals are of inferior quality with ash
content as high as 45-50% and are difficult to wash. The present use
of coal mostly through direct combustion is inefficient with high levels
29

of pollution. The efficiency cannot be improved much due to

technological limitations and it is very expensive to control the
pollution. India is looking for alternate technologies, more efficient,
environmentally benign and economically attractive. Coal gasification
fits into these requirements. IGCC technology is the best alternate
option for power generation in India.
India is highly dependent on imported oil and petroleum products.
The trend is likely to continue due to very limited indigenous reserves
and high growth rate in consumption. India, a developing country,
requires secured oil supplies to achieve the targeted growth. This is
possible by producing oil within the country from abundantly available
indigenous coal resources. Coal gasification route is most suitable for
conversion of coal to oil in India.
Coal is a source for wide variety of chemicals. Synthesis gas
produced from coal gasification is the feed stock for production of
chemicals. There is a vast scope for coal chemicals in India.
Like oil, reserves of natural gas are very limited in India. Synthesis
gas from coal will be an appropriate supplement to natural gas.
Coal gasification opens up several avenues for coal utilisation and
enables to use coal as a raw material to improve the economics
through cogeneration/co-production of electricity, chemicals and
liquid fuels etc.
Fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) are exhaustible, hence they need to be
utilised judiciously through the principle of sustainable development
30

and coal gasification route is the best option to achieve it.

References
1. "Teri Energy Data Directory & Year Book, 1997/98", Pub. Tata
Energy Research Institute, 1997.
2. Mishra B.C. "Indian Coal Resources, Its Exploitation and
Beneficiation" Proc. Indo-US Workshop on Coal Beneficiation,
New Delhi, February, 1996.
3. "Integrated Coal Policy, 1996" Report of Chari Committee.
4. "Clean Coal Technologies for Developing Countries, 1995",
World Bank technical Paper Number 286, September, 1995.
5. Nanda Kumar, K and Raju, C.R. "Inorganics of Indian coal and
their Influence on Boiler Performance", Proc. Coal Utilisation:
Trends & Challenges, Dhanbad, India, December, 1989.
6. Ashok Kumar and Singh, C.P. "Coal Beneficiation- A Pressing
Need for Power Sector", Proc. Coal Prep India, 1998, New
Delhi - India, January, 1998.
7. "Feasibility Assessment of Integrated Gasification Combined
Cycle (IGCC) Power Generation Technology For High Ash
Coals", Steering Committee Report, February, 1992.
8. "Clean Coal Technologies Research Development and
Demonstration Program", Pub. U.S. Deptt. of Energy.
9. Ann chambers "IGCC: From the Drawing Board to Commercial
Service", Journal, Power Engineering International,
January,/February 1998.
10.

Rao, O.P. "Green Power From Coal Through Fuel Cells",

Proc. 1st International Conference Green Power, New Delhi,

31

India, February, 1997

11.

"Conversion of Coal to Gaseous and Liquid Fuels", Expert

Group Report, May 1984.

12.

"Coal Gasification Systems: A Guide to status,

Applications, and Economics", Final Report, EPRI AP-3109,

June 1983.
13.

"Monthly Review of the Indian Economy, January 1998",

Pub. Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.

Table 1: Qualitative Trend of Production
Quality of Coal 1996-

1999-

2004-

97

2000

2005

75%

78%

79%

25%

22%

21%

Ash content
(35-50%)
Ash content
<35%

Table 2: Installed Capacity and Coal Requirement

1996- 2001- 200697

02

97

Installed
capacity,
- Total, MW
- Coal based,

8937 1461 2098

2

55

30

5322 8106 1110

32

MW

68

Coal

215

350

500

requirement,
mt
Table 3: Plant Performance and Cost Comparison
PC

IGCC

Plant

Plant

32.9

42.3

Capital required,*

1.0

1.14

Cost of generation *

1.0

0.99

Overall thermal
efficiency, %

* PC as base
Table 4: Relative Emissions (g/Mwh)
Pollutan
t

Coal fired
Fuel cell

Particula
te
410
6

33

NOx
2890
20

SOx
4950
26

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Summary
Coal is the major fossil fuel in India and continues to play a pivotal
role in the energy sector. Oil and natural gas are very limited hence
India is a net importer of hydrocarbons. India is heavily dependent on
oil imports and the trend is likely to remain same. Economic growth of
the country is tied up with regular supply of oil and any disruptions
could drastically arrest the growth. Oil imports is a drain on foreign
exchange reserves since they constitute about 26% of import bill.
More and more of natural gas is being used for power generation
leaving lesser allocations for fertilisers and chemicals etc where it is
34

essential and convenient. Indian coals in general are of inferior

quality.
Present use of coal is inefficient and polluting. Hence there is need
for technologies for utilisation of coals efficiently and cleanly,
substitution of lesser reserves of oil and gas with abundantly
available coals and prolonging the reserves of all the fossil fuels for
use of future generations. These requirements can be met through
application of coal gasification technology and following the principle
of sustainable development. Paper is based on the two issues.
Paper describes the merits of gasification technology for inferior
Indian coals with respect to efficiency and environmental aspects.
Application of synthesis fuel gas from coal gasification for power
generation, production of liquid fuels, chemicals and fertilisers, and
steel making have been described in the paper. Advantages and
disadvantages of each application have been discussed. Suggestions
have been made for substitution of oil and natural gas by coal
gasication.
Strategy & approach have been suggested for application of coal
gasification in the energy sector with reference to immediate, short
term and long term timeframe. Specific technologies have been
indicated in the 3 periods. Regarding finances for implementation, the
participation of industry in a big way is necessary. Incentives to
industry could promote the technologies.
The paper concludes that coal gasification has a significant role in
35

sustainable development of energy sector in India.

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