Ministry of Coal today said that government-owned Cola India will be inking three major Memorandum of Undertaking (MoU) on September 27, 2022, in New Delhi with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and GAIL (India) for setting up four Surface Coal Gasification (SCG) projects. The ministry said that the move will ease the way for setting up of coal-to-chemical projects through the SCG route.


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The ministry said that it will help reduce forex outgo and will lead to the creation of 23,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities. 


Through the SCG route, coal is converted into syngas (a fuel gas) that can be subsequently processed for downstream production of value-added chemicals. These are otherwise produced through imported natural gas or crude oil. "Envisaged end products would be di-methyl ether, synthetic natural gas and ammonium nitrate. With the twin objectives of self-reliance and energy independence, the Ministry of Coal has set a target for achieving 100 million tonne coal gasification by 2030," said the ministry.


The government had earlier said that the target to gasify 100 million tonnes of coal by 2030 will entail an investment of over Rs 4 lakh crore.


This 100 MT coal gasification will happen in three phases, the government had said. In the first phase from 2020-2024, 4 million tonnes (MT) of coal will be gasified and around Rs 20,000 crore will be invested for the same. In the second phase from 2020-2026, 6 MT of coal will be gasified which will involve an investment of Rs 30,000 crore. In the third phase from 2022-2030, 90 MT of coal will be gasified and Rs 3.6 lakh crore will be invested for the same.