THAR COAL PROJECT

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Submitted To: Sir Raza Irfan

Submitted By: Muhammad Usman

Nouman Nadeem Hashmi

 Thar Coal Project
Introduction:
The Thar coalfield is located in Thar Desert, Tharparkar District of Sindh
province in Pakistan. The deposits - 134th largest coal reserves in the
world were discovered in 1991 by Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) and
the United State Agency for International Development.

As Oil reserves deplete and price shoot up; the discovery of 175 billion
ton coal reserves in Tharparkar is exciting news. Its proper utilization will
solve the power shortage problem of Pakistan for the next 300 years. It
will also make Pakistan a power exporting country to the tune of 70,000
MW which will become a major foreign exchange earner for Pakistan.
The huge economic activity generated by this industry is likely to change
the fate of Sindh in general and Tharparkar in particular

According to reports, 80,000 megawatts is being produced through

underground coal gasification in different countries of the world,
including South Africa, Australia, China, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic
and Uzbekistan.

Coal gasification is the process of producing coal gas, a type of syngas–a

mixture of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), carbon dioxide (CO2)
and water vapor (H2O)–from coal. Coal gas, which is a combustible gas,
was traditionally used as a source of energy for municipal lighting and
heat before the advent of industrial-scale production of natural gas, while
the hydrogen obtained from gasification can be used for various purposes
such as making ammonia, powering a hydrogen economy, or upgrading
fossil fuels.
Pakistan has huge deposits of low rank, good quality lignite (coal),
suitable for power generation, gasification and other purposes. The
availability of coal can contribute substantially to the growth of industrial
development of the nation. The coal resources of Pakistan are larger than
the combine resources of petroleum, natural gas and oil shale.

Total coal resources of Sindh province have been estimated to 185 billion
tons whereas the coal deposits of Thar alone are estimated at 175.5
billion tons, which can ideally be utilized for power generation. In
addition to Thar, the other coalfields of Sindh are at Lakhra, Sonda,
Jherruck and Indus East. The Lakhra coalfield is fully developed, and
contains mineable coal reserves of 146 million tons. Sindh coal is
classified as ‘Lignite’ with calorific value ranging from 5,219 to 13,555
Btu/lb. Thar coal has low sulphur and low ash content but high moisture,
whereas Lakhra coal contains high sulfur. The feasibility study conducted
by John T. Boyd & Co. of USA has confirmed mineability and suitability of
Lakhra coal for power generation.

Dr. Samar Mubarak Mand:

Dr. Samar Mubarak Mand is a Pakistani nuclear
physicist, who served as the founding
chairman of National Engineering and Scientific
Commission (NESCOM) from 2001 until 2007.
Samar Mubarak Mand launched the Missile
Integration Programme in 1987 which was
successfully completed in 2005. A pioneer of
Fluid and Aerodynamics in Pakistan, Samar
Mubarak Mand earned renowned
internationally in May 1998, when he headed
the team of academic scientists which carried out the country's first and
successful nuclear tests, Codename Chagai-I on May 28 and Codename
Chagai-II on May 30 in Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Of 2010,
currently, Dr. Samar Mubarak Mand is supervising coal mining practiced
on scientific lines, for the Thar Coal Power Project.

Requirements of the Project

Pakistan invites investors from all over the World to help exploit these
resources. The amount required for this is huge and can only be provided
by foreign investors. Current Government of Pakistan in general and
Sindh in particular are assigning top priority to this project. The recent
formation of Thar Coal Board headed by Chief Minister of Sindh and
representative of all relevant Central Government departments is meant
to provide “one window” operation for investors.

With open pit design the coal may be taken out and transported to
nearby electricity generating plant. The output may be fed to the National
grid and international buyer grid. Each plant will cost nearly USD 2 billion
thus the total investment required in stages would be around USD 40
billion. Such large sums can only be provided by international Banks and
Operating Cos. Locally we do not have resource for such investment.

The best course to go about is creation of mega Syndication involving

Major Banks, Coal exploitation Cos, Power production Cos, Government
of Sindh and Pakistan as well as Overseas Pakistan. If Government of
Sindh and Pakistan along with Overseas Pakistani can commit 40% of the
required funds rest can be easily raised from the Banks, Coal exploration
and power generation Cos. Given the size of the find and strong economic
viability this would be possible with the proper structuring of the deal.
The requirements are starting to be fulfilled as foreign investors like
companies in china are expressing their interest in the project also our
own government is starting to allocate funds for this project. The Sindh
government has earmarked Rs 13.585 billion in the fiscal budget 2012-13
for the development of Thar Coal projects with a view to overcome
energy crisis in the country.

Conflict on its feasibility

Dr Samar’s view:
Underground gasification (UGC) technology is the cheapest solution to
produce electricity, natural gas and diesel in the present scenario of sky
rocketing oil prices.

He said that 80,000 megawatts of electricity is being produced through

underground coal gasification in different countries of the world including
South Africa, Australia, China, Russia, Poland, Czech and Uzbekistan.

Similarly, South Africa is producing 160,000 barrels per day from UGC
technology while China is providing 1,550 mmcf per day from UGC project
to Beijing and adjacent cities as town gas, he added.

Dr.Samar Mubarak pointed out that Australia is commissioning 8,000 MW

through underground coal gasification.

He said that 20,000 barrels of diesel per day can be produced at a cost of
$650 million from Thar coal under UGC project. We can directly supply
gas to fertilizer industry as feedstock from Thar coal under UGC, he
opined.

He was of the opinion that commissioning of UGC project will serve as a

game changer for Pakistan’s economy. We have successfully
commissioned the first phase of UGC pilot project by burning the gas
flame at Thar coal field and now we need money equivalent to $ 116
million to generate 100 MW of electricity.

Dr Samar said several foreign companies from China, United Kingdom and
Czech

Republic and Australia are interested to start UGC projects in Thar, but
that will increase the cost of power generation like IPPs or RPPs.

He said new technology is always being opposed in Pakistan and this is

the reason why the money is not being released for the project.

Executive director Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Muhammad

Yasin said that gas demand in the country was rising exponentially while
its supply was shrinking. The current gas demand is 5.6 billion cubic feet
per day while the supply is 3.8 bcf per day, leaving a gap of 1.8 bcf per
day, he added.

He said that gas demand would rise to 6.2 bcf per day during 2015-16
while the availability would be 4.5 bcf per day. The demand for natural
gas would reach 7.7 bcf per day while its availability would fall to 1.2 bcf
per day due to depleting gas reserves and decline in new recoveries, he
observed.

Yasin said the supply of 500 mmcf per day of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is
expected in 2013-14 while import of gas from Iran (first 263 mmcfd) is
expected in 2015-16.

Programme leader SAARC Energy Centre, Dr Muhammad Pervez said that

energy trade can be initiated with SAARC under the South Asia energy
ring and added that various action plans are underway to promote
cheaper energy within this block.

Chief operating officer SSGC LPG Pvt Ltd, Malik Usman Hasan said his
company has floated tender for the start of two projects to supply 50
mmcf per day, one for the supply of gas to KESC and the second for other
industrial units.

DGM operations National Gas Company Oman, Sanjeev Kumar Sinha said
that synthetic natural gas (SNG) is the solution to energy crisis.

Sales Expert Ultra flux, France, Vincent Raimbaud said that oil and gas
production can be enhanced by using new technology.

Meanwhile, a large number of senior business executives visited the 10th

oil and gas exhibition POGEE, 7th Safe & Secure Pakistan and 1st
INTERTRANS Pakistan on the concluding day at Karachi Expo Centre.

According to organizers, the exhibitors have negotiated deals worth

millions of dollars during the three-day event while scores of inquiries
were received by the companies.

Government officials:
Sources told that certain bureaucratic lobbies are using all their forces to
shrink the allocation for the coal gasification project in the upcoming
financial year 2013. The Planning Commission Secretary is also not fond
of the project, the source added.

Planning Commission Member Energy Shahid Sattar has also taken a firm
stand against the Thar coal gasification project.
“The Coal Gasification Pilot project run by scientist Dr. Samar Mubarak
Mand in Sindh has not yielded results,” he said while addressing the 4th
Oil and Gas Pakistan 2012 Forum on Saturday. He maintained that the
pilot project was not sustainable as it shut down after running for four
months.

“The audit team that visited the site revealed that no work has been done
on Thar coal gasification project,” Shahid Sattar told The Express Tribune.
He added the project has failed.

Shahid Sattar, the Planning Commission (PC) Member (Energy), on

Saturday told an international energy conference said the commission
had conducted the audit of ‘Thar Coal Pilot Project’ and stopped release
of funds because it was thought to be impracticable. “It’s not possible to
produce 10 megawatt of electricity from the Thar Coal Project,” he said,
adding Dr Samar Mubarak Mand had failed in producing gas through the
Thar Coal field. “Dr Samar’s coal gasification is a failure as the gas flamed
only for four hours and then dropped off,” Shahid said, adding that the
release of more funds for the pilot project would be ‘risky’.

Process
During gasification, the coal is blown through with oxygen and steam
(water vapor) while also being heated (and in some cases pressurized). If
the coal is heated by external heat sources the process is called
"allothermal", while "autothermal" process assumes heating of the coal
via exothermal chemical reactions occurring inside the gasifier itself. It is
essential that the oxidizer supplied is insufficient for complete oxidizing
(combustion) of the fuel. During the reactions mentioned, oxygen and
water molecules oxidize the coal and produce a gaseous mixture
of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), water vapour (H2O), and
molecular hydrogen (H2). (Some by-products like tar, phenols, etc. are
also possible end products, depending on the specific gasification
technology utilized.) This process has been conducted in-situ within
natural coal seams (referred to as underground coal gasification) and in
coal refineries. The desired end product is usually syngas (i.e., a
combination of H2 + CO), but the produced coal gas may also be further
refined to produce additional quantities of H2:
3C (i.e., coal) + O2 + H2O → H2 + 3CO
If the refiner wants to produce alkanes (i.e., hydrocarbons present
in natural gas, gasoline, and diesel fuel), the coal gas is collected at this
state and routed to a Fischer-Tropsch reactor. If, however, hydrogen is
the desired end-product, the coal gas (primarily the CO product)
undergoes the water gas shift reaction where more hydrogen is produced
by additional reaction with water vapor:
CO + H2O → CO2 + H2
Although other technologies for coal gasification currently exist, all
employ, in general, the same chemical processes. For low-grade coals
(i.e., "brown coals") which contain significant amounts of water, there are
technologies in which no steam is required during the reaction, with coal
(carbon) and oxygen being the only reactants. As well, some coal
gasification technologies do not require high pressures. Some utilize
pulverized coal as fuel while others work with relatively large fractions of
coal. Gasification technologies also vary in the way the blowing is
supplied.
"Direct blowing" assumes the coal and the oxidizer being supplied
towards each other from the opposite sides of the reactor channel. In this
case the oxidizer passes through coke and (more likely) ashes to the
reaction zone where it interacts with coal. The hot gas produced then
passes fresh fuel and heats it while absorbing some products of thermal
destruction of the fuel, such as tars and phenols. Thus, the gas requires
significant refining before being used in the Fischer-Tropsch reaction.
Products of the refinement are highly toxic and require special facilities
for their utilization. As a result, the plant utilizing the described
technologies has to be very large to be economically efficient. One of
such plants called SASOL is situated in the Republic of South Africa (RSA).
It was built due to embargo applied to the country preventing it from
importing oil and natural gas. RSA is rich in Bituminous coal and
Anthracite and was able to arrange the use of the well known high
pressure "Lurgi" gasification process developed in Germany in the first
half of 20-th century.
"Reversed blowing" (as compared to the previous type described which
was invented first) assumes the coal and the oxidizer being supplied from
the same side of the reactor. In this case there is no chemical interaction
between coal and oxidizer before the reaction zone. The gas produced in
the reaction zone passes solid products of gasification (coke and ashes),
and CO2 and H2O contained in the gas are additionally chemically restored
to CO and H2. As compared to the "direct blowing" technology, no toxic
by-products are present in the gas: those are disabled in the reaction
zone. This type of gasification has been developed in the first half of 20-th
century, along with the "direct blowing", but the rate of gas production in
it is significantly lower than that in "direct blowing" and there were no
further efforts of developing the "reversed blowing" processes until 1980-
s when a Soviet research facility R&D Institute for developing Kansk-
Achinsk coal field began R&D activities to produce the technology now
known as "TERMOKOKS-S"process. The reason for reviving the interest to
this type of gasification process is that it is ecologically clean and able to
produce two types of useful products (simultaneously or separately): gas
(either combustible or syngas) and middle-temperature coke. The former
may be used as a fuel for gas boilers and diesel-generators or as syngas
for producing gasoline, etc., the latter as a technological fuel in
metallurgy, as a chemical absorbent or as raw material for household fuel
briquettes. Combustion of the product gas in gas boilers is ecologically
cleaner than combustion of initial coal. Thus, a plant utilizing gasification
technology with the "reversed blowing" is able to produce two valuable
products of which one has relatively zero production cost since the latter
is covered by competitive market price of the other. As the Soviet Union
and its R&D Institute ceased to exist, the technology was adopted by the
individual scientists who originally developed it and is now being further
researched in Russia and commercially distributed worldwide. Industrial
plants utilizing it are now known to function in Ulaan-Baatar (Mongolia)
and Krasnoyarsk (Russia).

By-Products:
The by-products of coal gas manufacture included coke, coal
tar, sulfur and ammonia; all useful products. Dyes, medicines, including
sulfa drugs, saccharin and many organic compounds are therefore
derived from coal gas.
Coke is used as a smokeless fuel and for the manufacture of water
gas and producer gas. Coal tar was subjected to fractional distillation to
recover various products, including

 tar, for roads

 benzole, a motor fuel
 creosote, a wood preservative
 phenol, used in the manufacture of plastics
 cresols, disinfectants
Sulfur is used in the manufacture of sulfuric acid and ammonia is used in
the manufacture of fertilizers.

Steps by the Government

During budget speech in Sindh Assembly, provincial Finance Minister Syed
Murad Ali Shah hoped development of Thar Coal projects would help
overcome energy shortage in the country.
He said the lack of infrastructure was the biggest challenge to the
government to execute Thar Coal projects. He said the government,
therefore, undertook mega-infrastructure projects to facilitate the
investors, besides creating conducive environment for large-scale
developments.

"Thar Coal projects are at various stages of feasibilities and financial

close, which will lead to installation of over 4000 MW by 2015-16," he
informed the house.

He said Government of Sindh and Global Mining Company (GMC) of China

had signed a MoU in September 2011 for development of Thar Coal
projects. "GMC intends to invest $1.5 billion on key infrastructure
projects in Thar coalfield," said the Minister.

He pointed out that a test burn at Underground Coal Gasification (UCG)

project in one of the blocks of Thar coal filed had been successful in
December 2011, which Dr. Samar Mubarak Mand had executed.

Major schemes and infrastructure projects proposed in the next financial

year include: Rs 654 million for Construction of Islam kot Airstrip,
Development of GIS for Thar Coalfield Installation of Reverse Osmosis
Plants across District Tharparkar, Mithi and Islamkot, he said.

Murad Ali Shah said improvement and widening of road network from
Karachi seaport to Thar, road from Wango More to Thar coalfield and
Water Carrier from Nabisar to Thar coalfield with a capital outlay of Rs. 5
billion has been proposed.

In the budget, he said, the government has proposed to provide Rs one

billion for village electrification programme, Rs 1.5 billion for provision of
Sui Gas to towns and villages across Sindh and Rs 100 million allocated for
solar powered water supply system.

He said in 2011-12, the government had provided electricity to 642

villages in Sindh at a cost of Rs one billion.

References:

 http://dawn.com/2012/05/19/thar-coal-project/

 http://tribune.com.pk/story/378066/thar-coal-gasification-project/

 http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-
online/letters/21-May-2012/thar-coal-project

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thar_coalfield

 http://www.pres.org.pk/2012/100-mw-thar-coal-project-feasible/

 http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-
online/Politics/12-Aug-2009/Thar-coal-project-to-generate-over-
1000MW-power