Coal washing will improve efficiency in coal usage and also lower atmospheric pollution while burning coal in industries in India—this was the theme of a recent meeting between the senior officials of the South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) and the President and the Chairman of the Coal Preparation Society of India (CPSI) at the SECL headquarters at Bilaspur.
Deliberations in the meeting revolved around the importance of washing coal after mining before selling off to end-users. Participants from the CPSI argued that coal washing will improve efficiency apart from lowering atmospheric pollution and Carbon Dioxide emissions.
RK Sachdev, the CPSI President, said that the practice of coal washing is yet to take-off actively in India, unlike in the major coal producing countries, such as China, Australia, Russia and USA. In India, only around 15% of the raw coal is hitherto washed, the President said. He further said that coal will be the mainstay for power generation in India for another four decades, and in view of this, coal washing has become an utmost concern as the coal produced in India causes atmospheric pollution due to the characteristic nature of high ash content. Explaining the efficiency angle, the President said that washed coal is characterized by higher calorific value, so for every unit of power generation lesser quantities of washed coal will be required in comparison with that of raw coal. He also suggested a counter measure to deal with the endemic land acquisition problems in the country for setting up coal washeries. In this context, the President suggested that let the coal washeries be set up within the periphery of the coal mines to avoid delay in setting up the washeries due to problems arising out of land acquisition in India.
Alok Perti, the CPSI Chairman, said that coal has to be used in a way that polluting emissions are minimal. He expressed his anticipation that coal washing will eventually become a full-fledged practice in India in the future. Referring to the usability of the domestic Coking Coal, the Chairman said that Coking Coal produced by Bharat Coking Coal Limited and Central Coalfields Limited could be made usable for the steel industry in the country by washing. Like the CPSI President, Perti also favored setting up coal washeries at the source (that is, the mines), at the same time, he acknowledged the sizes of coal washeries in the country are very large, which tend to turn investors off. Suggesting a remedial action, he said that if the sizes are reduced, many private players are expected to come in that will make setting up coal washeries a lot easier. Finally, the Chairman asserted that consistency has to be maintained in coal quality as well as grade.
OUR TAKE-AWAY
In the line of the discussions at the meeting, CoalMint also supports the need for coal washing in the country. We believe that coal washing will eventually transform the coal usage pattern in India.
With the Government of India setting a massive coal production target of 1.5 BnT by FY20, efficient and environment friendly ways of coal usage also have to be put into action for handling the huge domestic supply efficiently as well as in environment friendly ways.
With the thermal power generation on a rising path, consumption of Non Coking Coal will also increase proportionally in the country. The incremental usage of domestic raw coal, which bears high ash content, will unleash polluting emissions into the atmosphere, thus mandating coal washing before burning in power plants to preserve environmental interests.
Simultaneously, demand for Coking Coal is also rising as steel production is growing in the country. According to the National Steel Policy, the steel production target is raised to 300 MnT by FY31 that will raise demand for Coking Coal to 180 MnT. To supplement Coking Coal from domestic resources, washing of Coking Coal is a viable option. Washing the domestic Coking Coal could render the coal usable by the country’s steel mills that will decisively contribute towards reducing the import dependency in respect to Coking Coal in the country.
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