CIL and GAIL form JV for Coal Gasification Plant in West Bengal
Coal India Limited (CIL) and Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), signed an agreement to form a joint venture (JV) on 5th August, 2024. This JV will set up a Coal Gasification plant in Raniganj, West Bengal.
Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) will be produced from Coal at CIL-GAIL JV’s Raniganj plant using Surface Coal Gasification (SCG)* technology. As per a PIB release dated 6th August 2024, this upcoming plant will be capable of producing 80,000 Normal cubic metre (Nm3) of SNG per hour, and 633.6 million Nm3 of SNG annually. The Raniganj Coal Gasification plant will require 1.9 million tonne of Coal per annum, which will be supplied by CIL.
*Surface Coal Gasification (SCG) is a process where coal is partially oxidised at high temperature and pressure using a limited amount of air, Oxygen, Carbon dioxide or steam.
In September 2021, Ministry of Coal had published a ‘Mission Document’‘ for the National Coal Gasification Mission (NCGM), which targets to gasify 100 million tonnes of Coal by 2030.
