Telangana’s Singareni explores coal gasification, plans pilot underground project
Hyderabad, July 10 (TNT): The Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is exploring opportunities in coal gasification as part of its strategy to diversify into the energy sector, with preparations underway to launch a pilot underground coal gasification (UCG) project in Telangana.
The initiatives were reviewed by SCCL Chairman and Managing Director Dr. Buddhaprakash Jyoti during a meeting with Dr. Srikant Nagulapalli, Director General of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, at Singareni Bhavan on Friday evening.
The CMD said a feasibility study conducted by Engineers India Limited (EIL) for setting up a 400-tonnes-per-day Ammonium Nitrate Melt Plant at the Singareni Thermal Power Plant (STPP) indicated that the project’s returns are currently not commercially attractive.
He said SCCL is evaluating options to improve the project’s viability, including increasing plant capacity, availing the Central Government’s Viability Gap Funding (VGF) and adopting indigenous technologies.
As part of its coal gasification plans, a team of SCCL officials will visit major projects at Talcher, MCL-BHEL and JSPL later this month to study their operational models.
Simultaneously, techno-economic feasibility studies are being carried out for surface coal gasification projects in the Bheemaram, Chennur South and Naini coal blocks.
On underground coal gasification, Dr. Jyoti said SCCL has identified five deep coal blocks in the Bellampalli and Ramagundam regions for potential development.
Preparations are in progress to launch the company’s first pilot UCG project at the Bellampalli Dip-side Block, including drilling operations.
The project will be implemented under the technical guidance of scientists from the Central Mine Planning & Design Institute (CMPDI) and CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CSIR-CIMFR).
The meeting was attended by SCCL Directors L.V. Suryanarayana (Operations), K. Venkateswarlu (Projects & Planning) and Gowtham Potru (Personnel & Finance), along with senior officials from the company’s coal movement, planning, business development and research and development divisions.
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