Relevance: GS I (History) & GS III (Energy & Environment) | Source: The Hindu

1. A Costly Historical Mistake

The 1955 Idea: Long before the world faced an oil crisis, an Indian scientist (Syed Husain Zaheer) gave PM Nehru a brilliant idea: convert India’s massive coal reserves into gas so we don’t have to import crude oil.

The Rejection: Government officers rejected it. They felt importing cheap petroleum was easier than investing in local science.

The Regret: In 1973, when global oil prices suddenly skyrocketed, India suffered badly and realized it should have listened to the 1955 homegrown plan.

2. The Science: What is Coal Gasification?

Burning raw coal directly causes severe air pollution. Coal Gasification is a smarter, cleaner alternative.

The Process: Instead of burning coal, we heat it at high pressure using steam and oxygen.

The Magic Product (Syngas): This process turns the solid coal into a useful gas called Synthesis Gas (Syngas). Syngas is basically a mix of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen.

The Environmental Benefit: During this process, we can easily filter out harmful pollutants (like sulphur) before the gas is used, making it much better for the environment.

3. Why is it important today?

India has realized that to be truly independent (Atmanirbhar), we must produce our own energy.

The Target: The government has launched the National Coal Gasification Mission to gasify 100 Million Tonnes of coal by the year 2030.

Economic Boost: We currently spend billions importing natural gas to make fertilizers. By making our own Syngas from our own coal, we will save massive amounts of foreign exchange.

Teamwork: Two big government companies (Coal India and BHEL) have joined hands to build these massive gasification plants.

The “UPSC Trap”

The “Zero Pollution” Trap: UPSC will try to trick you by saying coal gasification is a “100% green, zero-emission” technology. Incorrect. It is cleaner than burning raw coal because it removes ash and sulphur, but it still produces carbon emissions.

The “Gas” Trap: Do not confuse Syngas with natural gas or biogas. Syngas is primarily Carbon Monoxide + Hydrogen.

Q. With reference to ‘Coal Gasification’, consider the following statements:

The process directly burns coal in the open air to produce electricity, leaving behind minimal ash.
Synthesis Gas (Syngas) produced from this process is primarily a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide.
The Government of India has set a target to achieve 100 Million Tonnes of coal gasification by the year 2030.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Correct Answer: (b)