VINACHEM

Government had previously admitted that domestic coal was not suitable for commercial gasification technologies.

India’s Ministry of Coal (MOC) has announced it will put 60bn rupees ($736m) towards coal gasification, with a target of processing 100 million tonnes of the dirty fossil fuel into hydrogen and derivatives such as ammonia, methanol and synthetic methane by April 2030.

And with no requirement for carbon capture and storage (CCS), Hydrogen Insight calculates this amount of coal gasification could theoretically produce around 11-12 million tonnes of dirty hydrogen in a little under seven years, along with at least 250 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions.

The MOC is considering a scheme to allocate budgetary support or project funding towards state-owned and private companies, as well as pilots using domestically designed technologies or producing small volumes. However, the exact mechanism of these subsidies is yet to be decided.

By contrast, India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, is investing $2.4bn to help produce five million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030.

So why does the Indian government want to invest in further use of coal and increase emissions during a climate emergency, at the same time as pushing green hydrogen?

“The adoption of gasification technology in India will revolutionize the coal sector, reducing reliance on imports of Natural Gas, Methanol, Ammonia and other essential product,” says the MOC.

“Currently, India imports approximately 50% of its Natural Gas, over 90% of its total Methanol consumption and around 13-15% of its total ammonia consumption to cater to the domestic demand. It will contribute to India's vision of becoming Aatmanirbhar [ie, self-reliant] and create a surge in employment opportunities. The implementation of coal gasification is expected to make significant contributions to the nation's development by reducing imports by 2030.”

It is a somewhat confusing argument, not just for climate reasons, but also because green hydrogen would reduce the imported natural gas used today to produce H₂, as well as the fact that India still imports huge amounts of coal.

The MOC also adds, without explanation: “This initiative holds the potential to alleviate the environmental burden by reducing carbon emissions and fostering sustainable practices, contributing to our global commitments towards a greener future.”

According to MOC figures, 8kg of Chinese coal will produce about 1kg of hydrogen and 20kg of CO₂, although Indian coal has a much higher ash content, which could mean more coal is needed to produce the same amount of H₂.

The International Energy Agency estimates that coal gasification is one of the most emissions-intensive methods of producing hydrogen, at 22-26kg of CO₂-equivalent per kg of H₂ — about 80% of which comes from the gasification process with less than 20% linked to coal mining, processing and transport.

This compares to around 14.5kgCO₂e/kgH₂ for steam methane reforming, or so-called “grey” hydrogen production.

Significantly, the high ash content of Indian coal ­— which ranges from 25-45% — has previously been a barrier to gasification.

A report by the MOC in May 2022 noted that while India’s chemicals and fertiliser industries had explored gasification as a way to produce hydrogen, “many of the coal-based gasifiers had ceased operations due to problems related to the quality of coal”.

Fixed bed gasification, one of the main technologies used on a commercial scale, only works up to 35% ash content.

The ministry’s report proposed that other technologies, such as entrained flow and fluidised bed gasifiers, could either be tested to determine efficacy when using high ash content or scaled up if still nascent.

But this could still represent significant investment for a hugely carbon-intensive process that could end up stranded in future amid greater international pressure to phase out fossil fuels and coal in particular.

The National Green Hydrogen Mission, the country’s flagship 197.44bn rupee ($2.4bn) policy aimed at scaling up domestic renewable H₂, targets cost parity with grey in the latter half of the 2020s and five million tonnes of domestic production capacity by 2030. This would make a massive dent in India’s methane imports, since existing grey H₂ demand for refineries and fertilisers is around 5.5 million tonnes a year.

But the current cost of production is estimated at around $5.50-6/kg, which requires a major cut in electrolyser prices and the cost of sourcing renewable electricity to have a hope of competing with grey’s cost of between $1.3-1.8/kg.

In China, the only major producer of black or brown hydrogen (made from black or brown coal), the cost of this dirty H₂ is said to be even lower, at $0.90-1.46/kg, according to a scientific paper published last year.

The MOC meanwhile estimates that coal-derived hydrogen could cost $1-1.50/kg to produce in India, although it is unclear whether this includes the investment needed to scale up technologies to gasify high-ash coal.

The government opened its first auction for green hydrogen production earlier this month, offering a maximum of 50 rupees ($0.60) per kilogram in the first year of a bid plant’s operation, and is due to open further tenders for subsidies towards electrolyser manufacturing and demand-side use.

And comments by a senior government official indicate that it has not ruled out a previously shelved mandate for industries to switch from fossil-derived H₂ to more expensive green options.

The idea that the government would put public funds toward increasing the production of unabated fossil-based hydrogen up to 2030, at a time when it is trying to convince domestic use of renewable H₂, is puzzling enough.

But even the argument that it would enable greater resource self sufficiency falls apart when one considers that India is already a major coal importer.

Government figures report that 186.06 million tonnes were brought into the country between April and December 2022. This is despite a rise in domestic production, with nearly 800 million tonnes over the Indian fiscal year up to April 2023.

And imported coal, primarily supplied by Indonesia, Australia, South Africa and Russia, also tends to have half the ash content of that which is domestically produced — which could make it a better candidate for gasification.

So depending on what criteria India’s government sets for subsidy, this push for gasification might ultimately increase dependence on imports, at great cost to the public purse and the environment.

Source: hydrogeninsight.com