GAIL and Ergo Exergy Technologies Inc., Canada would be working together for development and implementation of commercial in-situ Coal / Lignite gasification projects in India. The two companies have prepared a road-map to implement a pilot project in Barmer in Rajasthan. GAIL is already talking to the Government of Rajasthan in this regard. The pilot plant would take 12 months time to commence production of gas, which would be the fuel to generate a 5 MW pilot scale power plant in another 12 months. After ascertaining feasibility to support a major power plant, the pilot project could be scaled up to generate up to 750 MW of power, since the Barmer Lignite fields is considered to have vast potential for synthesis gas.
Gas produced by Underground Coal/ Lignite Gasification is a very clean source of fuel and would also be a cost competitive fuel. Its cost per million BTU would not only be less than the price of imported natural gas but also be competitive with gas produced from coal from open cut mines.
During the sidelines of the Third Asia Gas Buyers' Summit held in New Delhi in February 2005, both the companies signed a Memorandum of Co-operation (MoC) for jointly developing Underground Coal/Lignite Gasification Projects. The MoC was signed by Mr. B S Negi, Director (Planning) of GAIL and Dr. Michael S. Blinderman, Director (Technology) of Ergo Exergy.
GAIL has identified enhancement of gas sourcing by exploration and production as a priority area. Underground Coal/Lignite Gasification (UCG) offers a method to produce synthetic gas (syngas) from coal/lignite reserves that cannot be mined economically. India has large coal/lignite reserves that can offer substantial economic quantity of syngas by UCG process. GAIL has also identified Mannargudi in Tamil Nadu as another potential location for implementation of another pilot plant.
Underground Coal/Lignite Gasification is a gasification process carried on in non-mined coal seams using injection and production wells drilled from the surface, which enables the coal to be converted into product gas. The process is flexible in operation, and is capable of producing commercial quantities of gas to be used as a chemical feedstock or as fuel for power generation.
Canadian company Ergo Exergy Technologies Inc. is the developer and the owner of the Exergy UCG Technology, the practical UCG technology applied to commercial UCG projects worldwide. Ergo Exergy possess unique expertise and know-how in the use of UCG gas for power generation and chemical syntheses including cleanup, processing and conditioning of UCG gas for value added applications. Ergo Exergy provide their proprietary UCG Technology for commercial projects either under licensing arrangements or as a turn key developer of commercial UCG plants.
Ergo Exergy have successfully demonstrated their UCG Technology in the first stage of the UCG-IGCC project involving construction of a 67 MW Power plant in Chinchilla, Australia. The first stage of the project included UCG gas production for 30 months as well as the environmental studies and full design and procurement of a combined cycle power plant. The Exergy UCG Technology is being applied in South Africa to develop gas fuel supply to a 1,200 MW power plant. A Gas-to-Liquid project based on Ergo Exergy technology is planned in Australia. Also Ergo Exergy provide their technology to commercial chemical and power projects under development in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and elsewhere.