CovEr STory - Mjunction

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Cover Story There’s an interesting anecdote about the first discovery of crude oil in India, at Digboi in Assam, way back in the late nineteenth century. In 1867, a large number of ‘natives’ were camping in the forests of north-eastern tip of Assam to lay railway tracks for Assam Railway and Trading Co. Ltd. Except for a tiny habitat nearby, the area was marked as having virgin forest cover. One day, the loggers who deployed elephants for hauling found stains of a sticky brown fluid on the feet and tail of the pachyderm. As they followed the footprints of the animal, legend has it, the natives discovered a bubbling liquid oozing out of the forest floor ponging a heavy odour. Some propounded that the area was not suitable for human habitation; “Look into the ground, it doesn’t even hold water.” Some went a step ahead and fancied the land was actually cursed. It was not until the Canadian engineer overseeing the project caught sight of the seepage that the crude was identified and a historic discovery made! This may be partly true, partly a legend. But such initial doubts and suspicion are a little too common in case of many new discoveries and technology applications in this country. Be it nuclear power, information technology or economic liberalisation, they have always come with a tag of fear and apprehension, even though they were tried and tested elsewhere. Underground coal gasification (UCG) could be the latest addition to that list. In common parlance, UCG is an industrial in-situ gasification process, which is carried out in non-mined coal seams using injection of oxidants, and bringing the product gas to surface through production wells drilled from the surface. The product gas could be used as a chemical feedstock or as fuel for power generation. At a time when India is facing stagnation in coal production, hampering its power sector growth, coal gasification comes as a viable alternative source of fuel. To go by the experts, only a third of India’s proven coal reserves is mineable. Coal gasification technology can help extract the gas tapped in such deposits. By converting its coal reserves into enough gas and oil, India can surmount chronic power shortages and halve its energy import bill of $110 billion a year. Also, UCG has numerous other usages for chemicals and fertiliser industries and, according to industry sources, could “ensure future sustainability”. Unfortunately, the country has been a rather late entrant into the field. While the technology is decades old, India’s first commercial coal gasification plant is just about to start production. In terms of usage of UCG, India lags far behind China and also some other neighbours. Worse, the country as a whole seems still not convinced. UCG and its merits In simple words, UCG technology converts coal into a combustible gas underground. The in-situ gasification produces syngas, which is a mixture of carbon-monoxide, hydrogen and carbon-dioxide. It has a lesser energy density than natural gas and is used as a fuel source or feedstock for the production of other chemicals. The use of UCG is as old as 150 years or more. The world, especially Europe and the US, widely used this “spirit of the coal” for street lighting, set up gas plants, discovered the chemical composition and refined the technology. Over the years, a wide variety of appliances and uses for gas was developed. As of today, the coal gas has a number of by-products that are useful for the industry. These include coal tar, sulphur and ammonia. Dyes, medicines, including sulfa drugs, saccharine and many organic compounds are derived from coal gas. Coal tar is subjected to fractional distillation to recover various products including tar (used in roads), phenol (used in the manufacture of plastics), cresols (disinfectants), creosote (wood preservative) and benzole (motor fuel). By-products of coal gas manufacture ♦♦ Coal tar is a thick black liquid with high viscosity. It can be used for roofing jobs; Coal tar is sometimes used for heating or to fire boilers. It also has medical uses. ♦♦ Benzole is obtained from coal tar or coal gas. It is sometimes mixed with petrol and is sold as a motor fuel. ♦♦ Creosote is obtained from high temperature distillation of coal tar, and is used as a fungicide, insecticide, miticide, and sporicide to protect wood and is applied by pressure methods to wood products. ♦♦ Phenol is used to make chemical intermediates for a wide range of applications, ranging from plastics to pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals. ♦♦ Cresol is usually derived from coal tar and wood tar and is used primarily as a disinfectant. It also has uses in fermentation and molecular biology. COAL INSIGHTS 8 March 2012
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Page 3 and 4: Chief Editor Rakesh Dubey, Tel: +91
Page 6: Cover Story India’s quest for UCG
Page 12: Cover Story The UCG process The UCG
Page 16: Cover Story UCG only way to exploit
Page 20: Cover Story and appropriate technol
Page 24 and 25: coal market fundamentals Thermal co
Page 26 and 27: coal market fundamentals Price fixe
Page 28 and 29: Feature The new and effective price
Page 30 and 31: Feature Govt may start auction of n
Page 32 and 33: fEATURE MoC may deallocate 58 block
Page 34 and 35: fEATURE Ministry of Coal and repres
Page 36 and 37: Feature COAL INSIGHTS 36 March 2012
Page 38 and 39: fEATURE Trans Damodar coal block st
Page 40 and 41: fEATURE Union Budget a mixed bag fo
Page 42 and 43: fEATURE Indian plants generate 70,9
Page 44 and 45: fEATURE Power utilities’ coal imp
Page 46 and 47: Special Feature Recovering carbon f
Page 48 and 49: Special Feature “There are reacti
Page 50 and 51: Technology ♦♦ Timely availabili
Page 52 and 53: CORPORATE RCF, CIL JV to set up coa
Page 54 and 55: CORPORATE BKT plans 32% hike in pro
Page 56 and 57: CORPORATE BKT’s R&D capabilities
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CORPORATE product ensuring a produc
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Expert Speak most of it is under fo
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Expert Speak within 2-3 years time,
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International US coal consumption,
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INTERNATIONAL New coking coal mines
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INTERNATIONAL UK mining equipment m
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logistics Dedicated Freight Corrido
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Logistics Port traffic down 0.74% y
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power sector update ALL INDIA ENERG
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Power sector update List of utility
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Power sector update Power Supply Po
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Power sector update Power supply to
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Power sector update Generation capa
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port data Major Ports through which
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CovEr STory - Mjunction

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