Portal India has reserves of 307 billion tonnes of coal; 80% of which has historically been consumed in thermal power plants and represents 55% of the total fuel source for power in India.
As India tries to reduce the carbon footprint of its thermal power plants, and in parallel tries to move away from coal-based power generation, could the future for coal be gasification?
Unlike coal combustion, the carbon dioxide stream from a coal gasification plant is highly concentrated, making carbon capture and utilization more practical and economical - increasing the viability of CCS projects in the future.
A more interesting avenue that opens up from coal gasification is CO2 utilization.
When the captured CO2 is coupled with a source of green hydrogen, you have the potential to make a range of green chemicals. The gasification route, coupled further with thermo-chemical processes & technologies, thus provides a unique ‘CO2 utilization’ solution in which, by reacting the currently vented CO2 stream with green hydrogen, one can produce a wide range of key chemical products, including ethylene and other olefins.
