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Methanol Production from Indian Coal: The Inescapable Bridge of Syngas Clean-up
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Mr. Pranav Kherdekar*
Email: pranavkherdekar@gmail.com
It might raise few eyebrows if I tell you that I am working on coal-based energy for my Ph.D. in 2020 when people are talking about
alternate fuels, green energy, and pollution- free fuels. What if I go further and state that the research on coal-based energy is the need of the hour for India? You would probably say that it would only be appropriate to make such statement if it could be justified.
The developing economy of India has been projecting considerably high energy demands, which are increasing day by day. Transportation sector constitutes a major part of these energy demands and we have been relying upon imported crude oil and the fuels derived from it to meet them. However, the crude oil is available only in limited quantity under the earth’s crust. Further, burning of
the fuels derived from the crude-oil results in emission of several harmful compounds in the atmosphere leading to air pollution. Accordingly, researchers are trying to develop alternate fuels and their blends as energy sources so as to replace the conventional crude oil-based fuels. Of these alternate fuels, methanol is a compound that has a strong potential to replace the conventional fuels as it is more power-efficient and can be made available at costs lower than that of gasoline.
Globally, coal and natural gas are the two major starting materials for the production of methanol. India, however, has very scarce natural gas reserves and thus production of methanol in India is entirely done by importing the natural gas from other countries. Such import of raw material adversely affects the
* Mr. Pranav Kherdekar, PhD Scholar from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, is pursuing his research on “Cleanup of Syngas Derived from Low-Grade Coal for Methanol Production”. His popular science story entitled “Methanol Production from Indian Coal: The Inescapable Bridge of Syngas Cleanup” has been selected for AWSAR Award.