COAL - WORLD'S MOST ABUNDANT FOSSIL FUEL

Worldwide, coal is enormously important. It is the world's most abundant and widely distributed fossil fuel. Around four thousand million tonnes of coal are mined every year in more than proved environment in the developed world or an improved standard of living in the developing world, the fact is that 87% or more of the world's primary energy is derived at present from fossil fuels, oil, gas and coal. And the greatest of these three energy, coal is expected to continue its primary role in the world scenario in the near future also.
INDIAN COAL
It has been only since the Industrial Policy Resolution, 1956 that the planned development of coal was initiated in India. Coal production at a level of 38.5 million tonnes in 1955-56- the terminal year of First Five Year Plan could grow upto 78.20 million tonnes only in 1973-74-the terminal year of Fourth Five Year Plan i.e. a growth of 39.70 million tonnes in a span of 18 years. The Energy Survey Committee of India (1965) also emphasized the relative importance of coal as compared to other energy forms. India has witnessed a phenomenal growth in coal production and it has reached a level of 246 million tonnes in 1993 - 94 - a growth of 168 million tonnes over two decades pitted against an increase of only 39.70 million tonnes in the eighteen years before 1973-74.
The Indian Coal Industry is over 200 years old but its real growth started after independence of India. In 50s' only when state sector entered into the field of coal production so long dominated by the private sector, the process of planned development of coal industrial could be initiated. Coal Industry was nationalized in two stages in 1971 and 1973 except private sector mines for captive use in steel industry and power.
The real growth of Coal Industry took place only since nationalization and the average Compound Annual Rate of Growth (CARG) in percentage between 1971 to 1993 has been 5.6%. Coal production in India has increased three times since nationalization in the early 1970s'.
At present India is the third largest coal-producing country in the world after China & U. S. A.
Indian Coal resources (proved indicated and inferred) likely to last for coming 275 years at current rate of consumption.
Coal (hard coal and Lignite) is the predominant primary commercial energy source in India. Its share in total commercial energy since 1970-71 is more or less consistent around 62% in spite of increasing share of Natural Gas. This situation is likely to continue in future too, for obvious reasons of adequate reserves of Coal and Indian Coal Industry's capability to meet the demand.
The ash/mineral matter of Indian Coal is of inherent nature i.e. intimately mixed with coal mass at the time of formation resulting in different cleaning characteristics.
Indian Coal, in spite of the handicap of high ash, has many positive characteristics particularly with respect to environmental aspects and end-use. These are :

Low Sulphur content
High Ash Fusion Temperature
Low Iron Content in Ash
Refractory Nature of Ash
Low chlorine content
Low Toxic Trace Elements

Low Sulphur and Low Toxic Trace Elements in almost all coals (steam/non-coking and coking) are the biggest positive factors in favour of Indian Coal for its use in an eco-friendly manner in almost all spheres of end-use.
COAL INDUSTRY IN INDIA
Coal Industry has pursued its main objective of providing energy support to India by satisfying the needs of the coal consuming sectors comprising :

Thermal power plants accounting for nearly 68% of the total coal off-take.
Steel plants, cement plants, railway, fertilizer plants etc. accounting for over 14% of the total coal off-take
Textiles, refractories, foundries, paper mills, chemical industries etc. numbering over 20,000 units.
Over a 100,000 brick-kilns, tobacco growers, tea garden and millions of households.

Coal production in Indian is largely in the state sector expect a few captive mines of Tata Iron & Steel Co. (TISCO). Coal India Limited (CIL) is the largest public sector entity, other being Singarreni Collieries (SCCL) and Indian Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. (IISCO).
CIL, accounting for nearly 88% of the national coal production.
The commercial energy : GDP elasticity in India varied from 1.77 during 1960-1971 through 1.42 during 1970-1981 to 1.35 during 1980-1991. It is expected that the elasticity is continued at 1.35 level till 2000 AD to reduce marginally 1.30 through 2010 AD. Based on the expected GDP level, the coal requirement is around 342 MT in 2000 AD and 545 MT in 2010 AD.
Coal in Indian Economic Context
The opening up of the Indian economy marks a sharp change in coal management scenario. The budgetary support to the public sector in being tapered off and the state equity is being divested. Controlled price are being selectively deregulated permitting a reasonable post-tax return on the investments made.
Coal Industry, however, has not been able to get remunerative prices for its produce despite the crucial role played by coal in fuelling the industrial growth in the country. Pit-head prices of coal have been kept deliberately low.
With the reduction in the custom duties on import of coal, a level playing field has been created in which domestic coal production has to be competitive. Competitively priced coal from South Africa, Indonesia and Australia is now in the realm of possibility especially for the coastal consumers. Captive coal mines in the private sector especially for power generation have already been permitted. In view of the challenges as above, it is imperative that coal production in the state sector be competitive.
At the same time it has been noted that -

An annual increase of coal production on an average
Rapid growth of opencast coal production
Sluggish growth in underground coal production, and
Near-stagnancy in the indigenous availability of washed coal.

The entire consultancy work for almost all the opencast mines right from exploration to rapid loading into merry-go-round system was planned, designed and supervised all through till commissioning by coal India subsidiary-the Central Mine Planning & Design Institute (CMPDI)
of the important technical changes that have taken place. over the past two decades, mention may be made of the following :

Increasing scale of operations with large capacity opencast machinery
Increasing size of heavy earth moving machinery of increasingly larger sizes.
Move to continuous mining system with application of inpit crushing-conveying systems
Process innovations and application of information technologies in computerized truck dispatch
Incremental innovations such as the introduction of `hotseat change' in dumpers.
increased adoption of computerized MINE Planning & Control
Introduction of rapid unit train loading to power stations from open cast mines.

Open pit mining has been a success story over the last two decades in terms of efficiency, profitability and growth for Coal India Limited with nearly ten-fold increase in coal production.
Underground Mining
Increase of underground production and productivity should receive top priority in coming years. At present underground coal mining is predominantly based on the conventional board and pillar system making use of `drill and blast' system with manual loading. Semi-mechanization in board and pillar system using Side Discharge Loaders and Loanders and Local Haul Dump Systems is showing marginal improvement.
Complex structural disturbance due to drift origin of coal, thick and steep seams also restrict the use of high capacity, high cost powered support longwell technologies. These technologies were introduced in a few mines for achieving high level of performance but their application in our country did not yield comparable results. The learning period of the technology has also been rather protracted. The initial investment is also high.
However, encouraging results are obtained in the operation of longwall technology at Jhanjra and Kottadih of ECL in West Bengal. It has now been decided to focus full attention on limited mines viz. Jhanjra, Kottadih and Monidih for rejuvenating this technology in our mines, achieving a high level of performance and economic viability.
Occurrence of difficult mining conditions at some mines has necessitated adoption of special mining methods such as Descending shields, Blasting Gallery etc. Other special methods being adopted are hydraulic mining at Baragolai of NEC and longwell single-slicing of a thick seam at Kottadih of ECL etc.
All this taken time and growth of mechanization suitable to our conditions has been at a slow pace. But now the level of expertise has been achieved whereby progress in future with mechanization and adoption of the state-of-the-art technologies particularly in bord and pillar system of mining will be faster.
Beneficiation
Indian Coal, being of comparatively high ash, requires beneficiation. The beneficiation technology adopted and developed over a period of time for coking coal is for total beneficiation of difficult-to-wash coal with high near-gravity material.
Most of the power houses in the country has been using high ash coat at pit-head power stations, utilizing combustion technology has utilization of high ash coal.
Of late, beneficiation of non-coking has attracted added attention. In case of distant power stations savings can be made in terms of transport cost besides advantages of improvement in the efficiency of power generation. CIL has invited outside parties to construct and operate Washeries on "Build-own-operate" concept. Response in this area is encouraging. Participation of foreign investor is also expected in some washeries.
Coal Utilization - (Domestic Coal)
Technologies developed on its own Coal India for the efficient use of indigenous coals for production of coal-based fuels, for use in household sector have gone into commercial production. The technologies are -

Specialized smokeless Fuel
Coal Briquettes

The approach in technology development has been to use low grade coal in an environmentally friendly manner.
Coal India has acted as promoter of coal utilization technology in the spheres of -

Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power generation
Coal Dust Injection in Blast Furnace
Gasification of low grade coal

Coal India adopted, on commercial scale, Atmospheric Fluidized Bed Combustion Technology for power generation and has also set up coal carbonization plant for the production of semi-coke, pipe-line quality fuel gas, and coal tar chemicals on commercial scale.
THE SHELL COAL GASIFICATION PROCESS
A new future for Coal
Coal is the most abundant and widely distributed fossil fuel. With modern techniques it can be mined, transported and stored efficiently and cost-effectively. International coal trade is growing steadily and there is vigorous competition on supply and price.
But coal's future commercial development depends critically on its environmental acceptability, and in particular on the success of the power generation industry in reducing sulphurous and other polluting emissions.
The use of low-sulphur coals and the introduction of more efficient flue gas desulphurisation facilities in conventional power stations have contributed to a significant lowering of emissions, but further improvement by these means in limited.
A major step forward
The Shell Coal Gasification Process (SCGP) represents a decisive technological advance in the development of coal as a clean, low-cost fuel for electricity generation.
The process converts coal into clean synthesis gas (`syngas'), mainly carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and produces high-pressure steam at the same time. Another product is elemental sulphur which has value in an established market. The inert slag produced has potential in civil engineering applications and the water effluent is acceptably clean.
The SCGP in a combined cycle operation
The syngas and steam produced by the SCGP are ideally suited for use in an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant.
As a result the Shell Coal Gasification Process can offer.

major commercial advantages for the power generation industry and its customers and
major environmental advantages for the community at large.

In more detail:

the SCGP as part of a combined cycle operation, can deliver 43% thermal efficiency with potential approaching 50% as gas turbine technology is further developed.
it can use a wide variety of coal types including high sulphur coal, lignites, coalfines and even petroleum coke, and the performance is unaffected by their properties. The coal types can be switched easily, and as often as required.
optimum unit size, tailored to supply gas to commercially proven gas turbines, extends from 130 to 400 MW. Modules can be shop-built and are easily erected on site.
availability is assessed at circa 93%.
operating costs, including fuel, are typically the lowest of all forms of thermal power generation giving premier position in a merit order,
environmental impact is low, because: more than 99% of the sulphur in the coal is recovered......
50% or less cooling water is required......
limestone is not required.....
NOx control is greatly simplified.....
current NOx standards are already met with potential for further improvement.....
there is a 10% - 25% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions because less coal is needed to achieve a required power output.....
the effluent water is acceptably clean.

With this combination of environmental acceptability and commercial competitiveness, the Shell Coal Gasification Process can become a vital component in the power generation industry's energy supply portfolio.
Environment
Improving the quality of life is the ultimate objective of all development Optimal utilization of natural resources is the primary objective of environmental management for sustainable development.
Concern for Environment
Environmental problems, with roots in the past unscientific mining practices, specially in Jharia and Ranigunj Coalfields, include problems of fire and surface subsidence. Measures to deal with these problems have been taken. However, due to the magnitude of the problem, continuous efforts will be needed in the future to develop appropriate techniques for dealing with the problems.
Emphasis on opencast mining in the recent past has heightened the concern for environment because of land degradation and rehabilitation of people affected by mining Increased opencast mining will necessitate larger land requirement for excavation as well as for accommodating external overburden dumps. Reclamation and restoration of mined-out and dumped areas, as already initiated will have to be further increased and adequate compensatory afforestation will need to be undertaken.
Opencast mining concurrently involves, in many cases, re-settlement and rehabilitation of people. The project implementation will, however, ensure that those who have to move do benefit from the project that displaces them.
For opencast mines, we use forest lands. Wealth in our forests and other natural resources are at stake when we divert forest lands. Therefore, the need for protecting the remaining forest cover cannot be over-emphasized. It has been estimated that land degradation due to opencast coal mining operation alone would render unproductive an area of more than 1400 has every year by the 2000 AD.
The dependence on coal for power generation in the coming decades and the imperative of the maintaining ecological balance for sustainable development, the need for optimization at the coal mining transport and utilization strategies, is self-evident. This calls for harmonization of coal mining with other sectoral policies and conservation of bio-diversity and emphasis on adoption and promotion of Clean Coal Technologies.
"Environment Audit" introduced recently in India would help focus on resource and emission budgeting so that switching over to Clean Coal Technology and programmes of modernization and upgradation through retrofiting can be facilitated.
Rational Pricing
Nationalization of the Coal Industry in 1971 and 1973 did give a boost to coal output but "Administered Pricing" policy is one of the reasons and can be blamed for the quality and quantity of coal supplied and the situation has come to switchover to prices determined by "Market Forces" and the regime of subsidies in all sectors should gradually phase out. It is also equally important for opening investment avenues through reorientation of lending policies of domestic and international financial institutions for financing CCTS, retrofitting and modernization of combustion system.
Export
There is export potential for Indian Coal in two areas:

The neighbouring land-locked countries. Here the better quality of coal of ash content upto 25% can find market.
In case of sea route export, the eco-friendly and combustion friendly characteristics of Indian non-coking/steam coal having low sulphur can have some advantage. Low sulphur, high ash fission temperature, low iron content, refractory nature of ash, low chlorine content and low toxic trace elements make Indian coal and exportable commodity. As on date, India hardly exports any coal (few lakh tonnes of coal are exported to Nepal and Bangladesh only.)

CONCLUSIONS

Coal is important. It is not only available in plenty, it is economic.
Coal is the major fuel for generating electricity worldwide. More than 45 percent of the world's electricity is generated from coal.
Coal is used in at least three-quarters of all steel making and it has other industrial uses as well.
The environmental issues surrounding coal must be resolved.
Investment in coal resources must be increased, so that coal's contribution to national economies is maximized.
Advanced coal-fired power generation technologies should be developed worldwide to generate at minimum economic coal, improve thermal efficiency and meet environmental requirements.
Clear Government energy policies
Coal still suffers from a negative image in the public's view, not justifiable, given today's practices. The Coal Industry needs to continue and perhaps intensify its public information to try and overcome the image.