May 2007 - SIMA

MONNET – FUELING INDIA TO GROWTH
Mr. Amitabh S. Mudgal (Vice President – Corporate Affairs & Marketing)
We at Monnet Ispat & Energy Ltd. share the nation’s
Vision for growth at a pace which was never ever
though of before i.e. @ more than 10%. Pegging
the growth driver at Manufacturing we ourselves
have grown 8 times during the last decade.
We identified newer technologies, we formed JV/
alliance with the leading companies of the globe and
today have emerged as a company globalizing to
attain sustainable development. These facts are well
authenticated our recent venture for coal abroad,
by operating the largest underground coal mines in
India and commission the much awaited BOO Coal
Washery in NK Area.
We at MIEL strongly advocate the fact that Coal is
the back-bone of our economy. Coal not only in India
but has been one of the world’s main energy
resources for decade together and has emerged
as an undisputed leader in the Energy scenario
world wide, more so in India where 70% of
Commercial Energy is generated from Coal. The
Balance is taken care by Hydrel, Nuclear,
unconventional source of Energy and fossel fuel.
The vision of 2030 in India indicates multiple increase
in demand for coal, though environment concerns
shall have to be addressed to, for effective use of
coal. The tentative projections for Coal demands
for the terminal years of XI plan (2011-12) and XII
plan (2016-17) are 620MT and 780MT respectively.
In the demand scenario power sector plays the major
role. Some non-coking coal is also used in sponge
iron manufacture, Cement & other allied Industries.
Both the production and distribution cum
transportation are challenges to the coal industry at
large. Quality of Indian Coal reserves both for coking
and non-coking coal (Thermal coal) is also a big
concern.
As per survey conducted by Geological Survey of
India (GSI) the total coal reserves are 234 billion
tonnes. 86% of these reserves are Thermal Coal
(Non-Coking) and 13.6% as coking coals & balance
the high sulphur tertiary coal. The ash of both coking
& non coking reserves in general is high compared
to demand of Consumers. Dependence of the Power
Sector ‘Inferior’ quality Indian Coal has been
associated with emission from the power plant of
particulate matter, toxic elements, No x , Co 2 and fly
ash. In addition large volumes of the water are
needed for cooling. There is also vast requirement
of land for ash disposal.
Since India can not live without coal, one of the
solution is to adop clean coal technologies both at
the power plant end and coal source. Monnet
identified and allied with a US based company to
bag the first contract to set up a BOO washery for
any State Electricity Board.
At power plant end, Technologies like Circulating or
Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustion (FBC), Super
Critical Boilers and Integrated Gassification
Combined Cycle (IGC), Super Critical Boilers and
Integrated Gassification Combined Cycle (IGCC)
would not only mitigate the pollution problems
associated with coal combustion, but also have
higher thermodynamic efficiency. These
technologies are very suitable for country like India.
Coal beneficiation is the most sought after method
to reduce the inherant high ash in Raw Coal. Major
public sector under taking CIL(Coal India Ltd.) has
ambitious plans to meet the demand of coal & its
beneficiation, but realising the magnitude of the
problem, doors have been opened to private sector
and import of coal has also been allowed from foreign
countries by the Govt. of India. Incentives for import
of Coal has been announced by Govt. Reducing of
import duty on Coal to zero by Govt. is a major step
in this direction.
In private sector Monnet Ispat & Energy, Calcutta
Electricity Supply Company, Bengal EMTA ,Jindal
Iron & Steel, PANEM, BLA and HINDALCO. have
stepped in for production of Non-Coking Coal for
their Sponge Iron Plants as well as for Power Plants.
MoC, Govt. of India has also allotted Coal Blocks to
Power producing public sector companies like NTPC
and other State Electricity Boards besides the private
companies, thus widening the production base of
coal. The transportation capacity of Country to
MAY-2007/16