India will build four major coal-to-chemical projects

Recently, India's Ministry of Coal said that India's four state-owned enterprises plan to build four coal-to-chemical projects as part of the Indian government's goal of using 100 million tons of
coal per year for gasification by 2030.

Coal India Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation, Indian Gas Management Corporation and Bharat Heavy Power Co Ltd will build these coal chemical projects and will jointly establish surface coal gasification projects
, the ministry said.
The coal chemical projects convert coal into syngas, which is then processed to produce downstream high value-added chemicals
, the Ministry of Coal added.
The four companies plan to produce dimethyl ether, ammonium nitrate and syngas
through these projects.

In 2020, the Indian government estimated that gasifying 100 million tonnes of coal per year would require an investment
of more than INR 4 trillion between then and 2030.
According to the National Coal Gasification Task Report released by India's Ministry of Coal in September 2021, the coal gasification project will be carried out in three phases, with a clear timetable
for the start and completion of each phase.
In the first phase (2020~2024), the country will gasify 4 million tons of coal per year with an investment of about Rs 200 billion
.
This phase of tasks includes the construction of a 1.
27 million mt/year urea plant based on coal gasification technology, which will be operated by
Tachill Fertilizer Ltd.
In addition, Coal India is building a new 676,000-tonne/year methanol plant
at the Dankuni Coal Complex in West Bengal.
Once operational, the plant is expected to help India meet its target of supplying a 15 percent methanol blend, thereby reducing crude oil imports
by 2030.

Coal India said in its 2021~2022 annual report that the planned four coal chemical projects represent the second phase of India's national coal gasification project, and its preliminary feasibility study has been completed
.