Coal India Ventures Into Clean Energy, To Set Up Methanol Plant With Annual Production Of 6.76 Lakh Tonne

State-run Coal India Limited (CIL) plans to venture into methanol production reports Economic Times. In its bid to boost clean energy initiatives, CIL Chairman Anil Kumar Jha said Coal India is planning to produce 6.76 lakh tonne of methanol per year. The move is touted to be a boon as Narendra Modi government is pushing for clean energy.

The Union government had early been working on easing norms for CIL to extract natural gas extraction and coal bed methane from coal seams. Earlier a permit was required from the Oil and Natural Gas ministry to extract coal bed methane.

Feasibility study for producing 6.76 lakh metric tonne of methanol per annum has been completed. CIL plans to set up a coal-based methanol plant at Dankuni Coal Complex (DCC) of South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL), a subsidiary of CIL.

Methanol production will be a boost to government’s ethanol blending initiatives and will find a significant market in north-eastern states.

The government of India think-tank Niti Aayog had earlier had a blueprint in the pipeline for implementation of the methanol economy. Methanol economy as it is touted, if adopted in India, will aid environmental pollution mitigation efforts of the government.

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways earlier this month, had announced a permit exemption for Electric Vehicles and all vehicles including autorickshaws, buses, taxis that run on alternative fuel like ethanol, biodiesel, CNG, methanol and biofuel.