(PTI)
The government is promoting coal gasification to convert high ash coal into methanol that can be used as cooking gas, with an aim to cut down dependence on West Asian countries for LPG imports, Niti Aayog member V K Saraswat said. He said that the world’s largest coal miner, Coal India Ltd (CIL), is likely to set up a coal-based methanol plant in West Bengal.
“There is excessive ash content at several coal mines in states like West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand, which are not in much demand amongst the coal-based power plants. Coal with high ash content can be converted into methanol and can be used for cooking gas purpose as methanol is substitute for LPG,” Saraswat told.
Niti Aayog is government’s premier think-tank and the prime minister is its chairman. “We import 60 per cent of our LPG needs and we can save billions of dollars by converting high ash coal into methanol and use it for cooking gas purpose,” he added. Saraswat, the former Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chief said, “We are requesting industries to start setting up coal-based ethanol manufacturing plant.”
