India’s Ministry of Steel will push for greater adoption by domestic steel mills of coal gasification as being developed by two government-owned companies, a government official said on Tuesday, June 19.
The official said that Coal India Limited (CIL) and gas infrastructure and transporter GAIL India Limited are developing a coal gasification plant for the revival of a defunct fertilizer plant and with the technology and plant developed by these two companies the model will be put up for adoption by steel plants and will cut down high dependency on imported coking coal.
He pointed out that Jindal Steel and Power Limited’s newly inaugurated steel mill in the eastern Indian state of Odisha is the first steel producer in the country to adopt coal gasification and reduce coking coal usage.
The technology and plant being developed by CIL and GAIL, though linked to a fertilizer plant, could be replicated for adoption by steel mills and the Ministry of Steel is looking at ways of incentivizing steel companies to adopt coal gasification, the official said.
With over 80 percent of domestic demand for coking coal being met through imports entailing a foreign exchange outflow estimated at $3 billion per year, offering incentives to steel mills to adopt coal gasification will not be a fiscal burden for the government, the official added.