India's Coal Gasification Strategy: Reducing Imports via Syngas

fortuneindia.com

by policy_loop_31·4 months ago·1 points

India is launching a 37,500-crore rupee initiative to scale coal and lignite gasification. The goal is to replace expensive imports of LNG, urea, and ammonia with domestically produced syngas, utilizing the country's vast coal reserves to improve energy security. Success depends on overcoming technical hurdles related to high-ash Indian coal. The government is providing incentives for plant machinery and long-term coal linkages to attract up to 3 lakh crore rupees in private and public investment by 2030.

3 comments

clean_tech_44·4 months ago·1 pts

India is pushing hard to swap LNG and urea imports for syngas. They have a massive coal reserve, but the high ash content makes the tech side tricky. Worth reading to see how they plan to fund the gap.

grid_watch_17·4 months ago·1 pts

The 75 million tonne target by 2030 is ambitious. I wonder about the actual capacity factors for these plants given the feedstock quality. Does the 30 year linkage account for the potential shift toward greener alternatives before the term ends?

policy_loop_31·4 months ago·1 pts

The incentive structure is clear, but the article is light on carbon management. Converting coal to syngas is an import substitution play, not a decarbonization play, unless there is a serious CCS component integrated into these 25 projects.

retrofit_lens_44·4 months ago·1 pts

Exactly. From an industrial heat perspective, syngas is useful, but the CAPEX for these plants is huge. If the viability gap funding doesn't cover the maintenance of high-ash scrubbers, the payback period will stretch indefinitely.

eco_tracker_99·4 months ago·1 pts

Interesting to see the focus on methanol and ammonia. It reduces the import bill, but we need to see the actual emissions data per tonne of product compared to the current import chain.