How Gasification Technology Can Make India Self-Reliant in Industrial Energy Demands.
Why Gasification Lost Popularity in the 1990s
Gasification is a century old technology using which biomass was transformed into fuel and that fuel was used in households and kitchens for various purposes. In 1990s, this technology could not be commercialized due to lack of popularity, reasons being space constraints in modern houses, high capital investment etc. Now gasification is gaining popularity especially among industries due to strong government push and its strategic importance in making India fuel independent. The government aims to reduce the import of crude oil from other countries and gasification has become an integral step to achieve that goal.
Revival of Gasification in Modern Industries
India is coal rich country and should utilize that for its benefit. Coal gasification can play a huge role in making India energy secure and reducing crude oil imports. 55% of India’s energy requirement is fulfilled by coal and as the government has set the national goal of 100 million tons of coal gasification by 2030, this percentage is bound to increase. Hence, we must understand the technology that will play a huge role in country’s development.
What is gasification ?
Gasification is a thermochemical process through which carbonaceous material like coal is transformed into a combustible gas called syngas. This process takes place under controlled conditions. Amount of oxygen and steam being introduced into the gasifier is regulated along with the temperature. Syngas is mainly composed of hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, sulfides, nitrides, and dust particles. It is a versatile gas that can be used for various industrial processes. It is much more efficient than coal as using coal as it is makes it difficult to utilize all its energy and causes pollution.
Understanding the Gasification Process
Gasification process mainly consists of four steps. Drying of coal followed by pyrolysis and then redox reactions. Drying is done to remove moisture from coal and to prepare it for next step, that is pyrolysis. In pyrolysis coal is heated in absence of oxygen which results in cracking of volatile matter present in coal along with release of some hydrocarbons, followed by redox reactions. Redox reactions refer to reduction and oxidation reactions that take place simultaneously and result in formation of syngas. Reduction reactions are endothermic and take the heat required for reaction
After the gas is formed, it is sent to downstream cleaning equipment for extensive cleaning. Tar, dust, and phenol water are removed from gas during cleaning which increases the calorific value of gas and makes it less hazardous to environment. to occur from oxidation reactions which are exothermic in nature.
Conclusion
Gasification produces a clean and sustainable fuel that is versatile and cheap in the long run. With low OPEX gasification provides a much better fuel option than the import of oil.