CIL and BHEL Signs MoU
The two CPSE, coal India and BHEL signs MoU for setting up ammonium nitrate plant through surface coal gasification (SCG) technology route.
Ammonium Nitrate Plant
- The plant is set up at Lakhanpur area of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, Odisha. It is planned to produce 2000 tons of ammonium nitrate per day initially. The annual production is slated at 6.60 Lakh tons which requires 1.3 million tonnes (mts) of coal.
- The coal will be supplied by Coal India limited. The BHEL would bring to the table indigenously developed pressurized fluidized bed gasification (PFBG) technology for this purpose.
- The synergy and partnership of the two corporate giants is a big step towards National Coal Gasification Mission which facilitates utilization of chemical properties of coal.
- Ammonium nitrate is a major ingredient in manufacturing of bulk explosives which CIL uses in large quantities in its OC mining operations, a major source of its coal production.
- The upcoming plant as backward integration would help in securing the raw material, reducing import dependency of ammonium nitrate and promoting Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan.
Synthetic Natural Gas
- CIL will pursue alternative uses of coal for environment friendly ventures like coal gasification in future after fulfilling the requirement of the power sector. SCG is a promising technology that converts coal into valuable Synthetic gas.
- This on further processing produces synthetic natural gas that can be used as alternative natural gas. Additionally, it can be used as feedstock for downstream chemicals production which are currently being imported and for power generation as well.
Source: PIB
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