India should pay attention on ‘gasification’ of coal: Kakodkar

Thiruvananthapuram

Former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar today said India should pay greater attention on “gasification” of coal for maximum exploitation of the untapped coal resources in the country.

Though there was a movement towards clean energy, coal would remain in the main-stage of energy supply, Kakodkar asserted after inaugurating the 23rd national and first international Heat and Mass Transfer Conference (IHMTC 2015), organised by ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) here.

Stating that only 40-45 per cent of coal reserves could be mined in the country, he wondered why gasification of coal was not being considered.

“Why cannot we create in-situ gasification and take it out… The chemical processes are, I think, reasonably under control. So, I would like to suggest, we should pay greater attention to this particular aspect,” he said, adding the ‘in-situ gasification’ would largely be an “India-specific problem”.

The former AEC chairman also pointed out about the global movements towards non-fossil energy.

Many countries were working on programmes to transfer the “the entire hydro carbon requirements of transport fleet from fossil hydro carbons to non-fossil hydro carbons,” and India should pay some attention on this area also, he said.

PTI