Coal Gasification Plant for Urea Project | 18 Sep 2019

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.

Source:TH