Mumbai, Sept. 1 -- Union Ministry of Coal advisor B. Veera Reddy visited the Underground coal gasification (UCG) pilot research and development (R&D) project at Kasta in Jharkhand. The project is managed by Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) and is India's first underground coal gasification pilot.

Reddy was received by senior ECL executives and inspected the site to assess implementation progress. Senior management and technical representatives from Ergo Exergy Technologies Inc. (EETI), Canada, provided a briefing on the pilot plant's functional units.

The Kasta West development spans the Raniganj and Pandaveswar areas across the West Bengal-Jharkhand border. The venture is a strategic R&D initiative funded directly by the Coal India Limited (CIL) R&D Board as a targeted research scheme rather than via commercial surface gasification incentives. Exact capital costs have not been publicly itemised.

The project is led jointly by ECL and the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI), Ranchi, with technical support from EETI. It is structured as a two-year, two-phase programme to establish technical feasibility and achieve pilot-scale in situ syngas production. Following exploratory drilling on 22 June 2024, trial work is nearing completion and the initiative will move to initial commercial evaluation.

ECL is advancing a surface gasification project at Sonepur Bazari in West Bengal that is expected to be operational in about a year; the joint venture with CIL and GAIL is estimated at Rs 130,528 mn to produce synthetic natural gas. The company has been awarded India's first underground coal gasification project by the Ministry of Coal and commercial production from the pilot is projected to start within a couple of months. These efforts support the National Coal Gasification Mission, which aims to achieve 100 mn t of coal and lignite gasification by 2030, and the Union Cabinet has approved a financial incentive framework of Rs 375,000 mn for surface projects.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Construction World.