Orissa offers Rs. 90,000cr coal-to-liquid plant

Bhubaneswar : Orissa offers Rs. 90,000cr coal-to-liquid plant Brimming with huge deposits of inferior coal enriched with potentials to produce ultra clean liquid fuels including diesel, naphtha and LPG, Orissa has become a hub for domestic and multinational companies to exploit reserves to produce clean fuel. In this connection the state government has recently given a go ahead signal to Tata Steel, which in a joint venture with South Afirca-based Sasol Synfuels Pty Limited, is setting up coal to liquid (CTL) plant. The new plant, which is the first of its kind in the country entailing an investment of Rs. 90,000cr, is slated to go on stream by 2018. Apart from this, Jindal Steel & Power has set up a subsidiary, Jindal Synfuels, to build CTL plant with a capacity of 80,000 barrels per day.

According to sources, both the players are introducing world class clean coal technology to lower the carbon footprint, which has become a vital parameter in judging country's environmental compliance. In these projects various emissions, effluents and solid wastes of the projects would be much below the stipulated statutory limits laid down by the World Bank and Indian pollution control bodies. Moreover, the waste water would suitably be treated with full recycle ensuring zero liquid discharge and these plants can easily be set up on a barren and useless land thereby leaving the fertile land for agricultural purposes.