India aims for 100 million tonne (MT) coal gasification by 2030 with investments worth over Rs 4 lakh crore, said Union Minister of Coal and Mines Prahlad Joshi.

Addressing a webinar on Coal Gasification and Liquefaction, Joshi said that Coal Gasification and Liquefaction is no more an aspiration, but a requirement, an official release said on Monday (31 August).

The webinar was organised by Ministry of Coal (MoC) in New Delhi for discussing the road map for achieving the target. The webinar was attended by around 700 delegates from government of India, Coal India Limited (CIL) and the coal sector.

Joshi added that for encouraging use of clean sources of fuel, government has provided for a concession of 20 per cent on revenue share of coal used for gasification.

The minister emphasised that this will boost production of synthetic natural gas, energy fuel, urea for fertilisers and production of other chemicals.

Reiterating on government’s commitments for green initiatives in the coal sector, Joshi said that coal gasification and liquefaction are well in the government’s agenda and various actions have been taken for development of surface coal gasification in India.

A steering committee has been constituted in this regard under the chairmanship of Dr V K Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog comprising of members from the Ministry of Coal.

CIL has also planned to set up at least 3 gasification plants (besides Dankuni) on BOO (build, own, operate) basis through global tendering and has signed an MOU with GAIL for marketing synthetic natural gas.

Joshi urged the attendees of the session to explore more about technologies and other aspects in coal gasification sector. He added that this will help in harnessing nation’s reserves for maximum utilisation while heading on the path to sustainability, as per global standards.