Country’s import bill can be reduced by $10 billion in five years and carbon emissions can be cut by using domestic coal gas as a feedstock for producing urea and other chemicals. Coal Secretary Susheel Kumar has said that the country should use coal to produce gas adding that the indigenous coal gasification will not only reduce the emission intensity but would also lessen the adverse environmental impact.
The Coal Secretary further said that if the country is able to gasify coal, then it can be used for production of chemicals, including urea and methanol, it would lead to the reduction in import bill manifold by 2030 and will reduce the country’s dependence on petroleum and natural gas.
Susheel Kumar noted that at present, import expenditure of four-five chemicals like urea, methanol, ammonia and ascetic acid is around $5.5 billion and if we are able to replace this import by indigenous coal gasification, our dependence on petroleum and natural gas will be reduced. The government is planning to come up with a series of pilot projects in areas like coal gasification and coal-to-polychemicals next fiscal and once the projects are successful, the government will push for commercial use of technology for utilisation of country's huge coal reserves.