Important Facts For Prelims
Coal Gasification Plant for Urea Project
- 18 Sep 2019
- 2 min read
The Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers has signed a contract for the coal gasification plant for the urea project at Talchar, Odisha.
Background
- Currently, the production of urea in the country is done by using pooled natural gas which comprises domestic Natural Gas and imported Liquified Natural Gas(LNG).
- Import of LNG is costly 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.
Production of Urea with Coal Gasification
- The project will improve India's self-sufficiency in Urea, promote agriculture growth in India.
- It will promote the use of abundantly available domestic coal in an environment-friendly manner.
- Also, the success of this technology shall also propel the usage of coal for the production of other products like syngas, diesel, methanol, petrochemicals, etc.
Coal Gasification
- The process of Coal Gasification chemically transforms the fossil fuel into Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG), instead of burning fossil fuel.
- It produces Syngas which is a mixture consisting primarily of methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapour (H2O).
- Syngas can be used to produce a wide range of fertilizers, fuels, solvent and synthetic materials.
- It is primarily used for electricity generation, for the production of chemical feedstocks.
- The hydrogen obtained from coal gasification can be used for various purposes such as making ammonia, powering a hydrogen economy.
- In-situ gasification of coal – or Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) – is the technique of converting coal into gas while it is still in the seam and then extracting it through wells.
