Use of coal gasification unit to bring down carbon footprint: Pradhan

The coal gasification technology for the plant will be provided by M/s Wuhan Engineering Co Ltd.

Contract signing award ceremony for Coal gasification unit for production of Urea and Ammonia at Talcher fertilizer plant was held in New Delhi today. Rs 13,277 crore plant in the Angul district, Odisha, being promoted by GAIL, RCF, CIL, and FCIL, will produce 1.27 MMTPA Urea and 0.73 MMTPA Ammonia. The coal gasification technology for the plant will be provided by M/s Wuhan Engineering Co Ltd.

Speaking on the occasion, the Petroleum and Natural gas & Steel Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan said that Talcher fertilizer plant will produce Urea and Ammonia based on coal gasification technology that will create a new benchmark in India's development journey. He said, "India is fully committed to COP21 to bring down its carbon footprint, and use of coal gasification technology is a step in this direction". Adding on, he said that the Government has decided to revive all closed fertilizer plants in eastern India. Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga for the eastern gas grid is progressing at a good speed, with Gorakhpur and Barauni being already covered, and Sindari to be covered soon. He said that the project shall use a blend of coal and petcoke as feedstock for the production of Fertilizer. Coal for this project shall be sourced from captive Northern part of North Arkhapal mine in Talcher region allotted to TFL and work for the development of the captive mine is already under progress. Petcoke shall be sourced from Paradip refinery for the project. This project shall promote the use of abundantly available domestic coal in an environment-friendly manner. Shri Pradhan said that the success of this technology shall also propel the usage of coal for the production of other products like syngas, diesel, methanol, petrochemicals, etc. The Minister said that this project has the potential to be a game-changer in the Indian context due to the harnessing of Coal through cleaner technologies in sectors other than power and shall produce 2.38 MMSCMD of Natural Gas equivalent Syngas leading to direct reduction in LNG import bill.

In his address, the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Shri D.V. Sadananda Gowda said that for meeting the food requirements of the country, the role of fertilizers especially Urea in the Indian context is paramount. Currently, India imports about 50 to 70 lakh tones of Urea every year to meet the urea requirement. He said that Govt of India is putting its earnest efforts to augment the availability of domestically produced urea. Currently, the production of urea in the country is done by using pooled natural gas which comprises of domestic NG and imported LNG. Import of LNG is a costly affair and leads to spending valuable foreign exchange. Hence it is preferred that an indigenous raw material is used for the production of urea and other fertilizers in the country. He said that the Talcher Fertilizer Project is a step in this direction wherein indigenous coal in a mix of petcoke shall be used for the production of urea. The project shall improve India's self-sufficiency in Urea, promote agriculture growth in Odisha and increase the reliability of Urea availability to farmers of Odisha in particular and India in general. Shri Gowda said that this initiative would propel India towards self-reliance in the Urea sector through efforts under "Make in India", in addition to generating direct and indirect employment of about 4,500.

(With Inputs from APO)