Geography and You Rgy Spe a Development and Environment Ma Cial I a Gazine METGEEKS Programme GETTING WEATHER WISE

G’nY SINCE 2001 Vol. 17, ISSuE 103, 2017 INd coal powered

EnE GEoGraphY and You rgy SpE A Development AnD environment mA cial I a gAzine METGEEKS Programme www.geographyandyou.com GETTING WEATHER WISE

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Contact IPPLTD for further details. 707, Bhikaji Cama Bhawan, R. K. Puram, New Delhi Phone: +91-11-26186350, +91-11-46014233, Email: [email protected], Website: geographyandyou.com G’nY SInCe 2001 a development and GeoGraphYandYou.Com GeoGraphy and you envIronment maGazIne VOL. 17  ISSUE 103  JULY-AUGUST 2017

energy access 32 Coal Fields in India Development 6 The Multiplier Effect of Staff Reporter alternatives Energy Access 62 Natural Gas Hydrate-A Akanksha Chaurey 38 Mining and Environment Future Source of Energy Staff Reporter Jitendra S Sangwai 12 The Energy Mix Conundrum 42 Ecological Restoration of inDia outDoors Staff Reporter Coal Mine Degraded Lands 68 Changthang Wildlife Subodh kumar Maiti perspectives on coal Sanctuary D D Misra 18 Coal Quality and Quantity Fueling transport in India 48 Petroleum Pricing in India Staff Reporter D Gopalkrishna Murti In BrIef 26 Coal in Energy Planning 56 Biofuels for Emission 2 Letters of India Reduction 4 Editor’s Note D N Parsad D K Tuli 75 Book/Website

Expert Panel Prithvish Nag B Meenakumari Ajit Tyagi B Sengupta Vice Chancellor, Chairperson, Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Former Member Secretary, MG Kashi Vidyapeeth, National Biodiversity Former DG, IMD, Central Pollution Control Varanasi. Authority, Chennai. New Delhi. Board, New Delhi. Rasik Ravindra Sachidanand Sinha Saraswati Raju D Mukhopadhyay Former Director, Professor, CSRD, Professor, CSRD, Director, NCAOR, Goa. Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru Economic Research, University, New Delhi. University, New Delhi. Nielsen, New Delhi. maY-June 2017 Issue: I have gone through the Agri-Tech perspectives issue of GnY. I am really impressed with the way the subject has been treated. Many possible alternatives to GM crops have been GeoGraphy and you suggested—very subtly of course. The most appropriate is mutation edItor breeding for crop improvement. The article by Dr MC kharkwal reveals Sulagna Chattopadhyay that nearly 3250 mutant varieties belonging to about 175 plant species

senIor advIsor have been developed and released world over and India too has SaraSwati raju made significant contributions in crop improvement through mutation breeding. There is a need to propogate the use of safe food rather than LeGaL advIsor opting for GM foods. —RAMESh ChANDRA, NEW DElhI via email. KriShnendu datta For more details log on to our website www.geographyandyou.com cover photo Collage depiCting india’S Coal driven energy G’nY conducted a facebook discussion, became the fourth largest producer of wind SCenario ‘Coal to Solar’, backdrop being the energy in the world and also announced to Indian government setting a target of cancel 14 GW of production by coal plants. photo 175 GW installed capacity for renewable Electric cars will be a reality by 2030. Yes, praSad energy - with 100 GW to be sourced I believe that Indians can definitely embark from solar projects by 2022. The idea on a path of ‘Cleaner Greener Mission’ by IrIs pubLIcatIon pvt. Ltd. was to understand whether as part of its innovating certain techniques and methods. reGIstered offIce affirmation of the Paris Climate Accord, India To add a success story, Netherlands, once 111/9 K g, aruna aSaf ali marg, new delhi -110070 could reduce its near 60 per cent energy a leader in the use of palm oil as a biofuel, dependency on coal. has suspended all the subsidies for palm correspondence/ The ambitious renewable target is a oil due to scientific evidence that their use edItorIaL offIce tremendous move by the government. causes more environmental harm than fossil 707, bhiKaji Cama bhawan, rK puram, new delhi - But we are all aware of the vulnerabilities fuels. Similarly, I believe that if Indians are 110066 associated with renewable energy. made aware of the toxic effects of carbon phone: +91-11-46014233; Through the day and through the year, emissions, then surely the day is not far +91-11-26186350 for new SubSCriptionS, there is variability in the renewable energy away when India will be tagged as a ‘carbon renewalS, enquirieS produced. Without proper management, it emission neutral ‘ country. So let’s dream pleaSe ContaCt will be tough to let go of a reliable source big because when we dream big, aspirations CirCulation manager e-mail: info@ of energy like coal, even if it is severely turns into realities. —MouMita Chakraborty geographyandyou.com polluting. The Indian government is coming pleaSe viSit our Site at www.geographyandyou.com up with renewable energy management optImIstIcaLLY It Is possible, though the for further information. centres (REMCs), in every state, which will timeline is stringent. It is about India’s schedule energy production based on the commitment towards green energy. There ©IrIs pubLIcatIon pvt. variability aspect of renewables. Our aim are immense challenges, with solar power Ltd. all rightS reServed should be to install as much renewables as needing to be reliable and infrastructure throughout the world. possible and integrate it with the grid so that needing to be put in place for smart grids. We reproduCtion in any there is a significant reduction in pollution might need to build bigger storage capacities manner, part or whole, iS prohibited. printed, levels. —ShIkhAR NEMA too. Until we have economical storage publiShed and owned by capacities for solar power we would not be Sulagna Chattopadhyay. IndIa has accepted the Paris Agreement able to fully utilise the capacity. however, in a becoming the 62nd nation to join the growing technological era we can surely hope prInted at india graphiC SyStemS deal. Since the past few years, India to fulfil our vision by 2022. —Nidhi pvt. ltd. f-23, oKhla has displayed immense credentials, induStrial area, phaSe-i, commitment, and leadership by taking soLar Is aGenda driven, you exchange one new delhi - 110020. affirmative action in reducing carbon problem for another. Water and wind turbines pubLIshed at emissions. The year 2017 has seen a record produce more electricity at a fraction of the iriS publiCation pvt. drop in solar power prices. India recently footprint. —CliNt GreeN ltd. geography and you doeS not taKe any reSponSibility for WrIte editorial office: geography and you, 707, bhikaji Cama bhawan, r K puram, new delhi - 110066. letters may be edited for clarity and returning unSoliCited length. include name, address and telephone. phone 011-46014233, 26186350 emaIL [email protected] publiCation material. facebook http://goo.gl/eieah, LInkedIn http://in.linkedin.com/pub/geography-and-you/5a/b32/b24 WebsIte www.geographyandyou.com. subscrIptIons for institutional subscriptions of print copies you may write to [email protected] to contrIbute an artIcLe: Kindly send the abstract of your article in not more than 200 words to [email protected]. all diSputeS are SubjeCted to the abstract will be reviewed by our guest panelists. once selected we shall respond for the procurement of full article. the length of the final the exCluSive juriSdiCtion of article may range from 1000 to 1500 words. please also mention if you can contribute relevant high resolution photographs. 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2 July-auGust 2017 . GeoGraphy and you 103 issue Bhumika Saint

Visit : www.geographiaias.com to watch demo video’s & online purchase GEOGRAPHY (OPTIONAL) Main’s Test Series (online/offline) Available Download our free mobile app “Geographia IAS by Ajay Raj Singh” EDITORIAL New paths to India’s energy security

India continues to tread a cautious developmental path. It is presently not possible to ignore or downsize coal driven energy security. However, despite the odds, the nation needs to strive towards a path of clean and green energy. Nuclear is a cleaner option if emission is considered. Production of nuclear energy in fact requires only a minute fraction of the land to generate multiple times the energy solar or for that matter, wind energy projects can. Should nuclear be an option that India can opt for—keeping in mind the reducing per capita land availability of its populace and the ever increasing burden of CO2 emissions from coal fired plants? Maybe. Moving away from coal would lead India to policy crossroads. With India’s plans to expand its energy outreach taking wing— renewable and nuclear seem to stand out as clear choices. A swift analysis of data backed by field work by the G’nY team, findings of which will be reported in the upcoming issue, have found near nil ground penetration as far as household solar is concerned. Energy from renewables, especially solar needs to be demand driven in order to succeed. However, when uplinking with the grid is more cost-effective, it would be difficult to get people to stick their necks out and opt for a relatively expensive system at the sole open space at their disposal—the rooftop, for imagined future gains. As things stand today, renewables have to be pushed from the top, with large subsidies, technological hand holding and fund based interventions, such as solar parks. This issue of G’nY largely explores perspectives on coal energy and exhibits how dependant India is on it. It also looks into other sources of energy, from petroleum to new age biofuels and gas hydrates. Happy reading.

Sulagna Chattopadhyay

Coal mining in India began in 1774 with Sumner and Heatly of the British East India Company.

4 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 101 issue

EnErgy accEss

The mulTiplier effecTBy AkAnkshA ChAurey of energy access

The impact of providing energy access to basic needs such as food, infrastructure and overall development is a no-brainer, but can this interrelationship be institutionalised to measure the multiplier effect of energy access on the needs of societies?

6 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue Access to energy resources empowers women, ensures food production, water supply and helps perform many other enabling

AsAd activities as opposed to debilitating conditions of the energy deprived in

Photo: Pr Photo: Chopta, Uttarakhand

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 7 he World Energy Outlook (WEO, efficient end-use appliances and limited ability of 2016) states that in 2016, about 1.2 rural poor to consume and afford electricity, make billion people (16 per cent of world the revenues small. So the ratio of numerator— population) did not have access to overall project costs to denominator—delivered electricity and about 3 billion people or consumed energy in the levelised cost of energy Tdid not have access to clean energy for cooking (LCOE) calculations is high, hence, energy access and heating, relying mostly on traditional and projects seem unviable. inefficient methods of using biomass, wood, char- coal or dung cakes. social rate of return for energy In India, the NSS 68th Round Report (NSS access projects 2012) reveals that 72.7 per cent of rural households However, it would be interesting to compare used electricity as primary source of energy for energy access projects with infrastructure projects lighting. Most of the remaining households used which are created as public goods and face the kerosene. Further, firewood and chips were used same challenge of being bankable. For instance, by more than two-third (67.3 per cent) of rural projects such as roads and bridges are constructed households. This is despite national level commit- mainly for mobility and transportation. Their ments and schemes such as LPG subsidy, Power individual rate of return may not be high and for All, universal electrification and decentralised may not cover the cost of borrowing funds, but solar power programmes, all of which intend to their social rate of return makes these projects provide reliable and clean energy to both rural and high impact or high importance due to multiplier urban population of India. benefits facilitated by mobility and transportation of goods and people. Is there a way to quantify the energy as an enabler multiplier effect or positive externalities of energy While we are aware of the dismal energy access access to capture the impact on communities and scenario, we do recognise that energy is an enabler thereby make a better investment case for energy to foster economic development, create jobs, access projects? Can such projects be evaluated facilitate education and health services, empower beyond the financial and economic rate of return? women, ensure food production and water supply Can we define a social rate of return as a metric to and perform many other actions required for evaluate energy access projects? overall development of societies. The relation- One way of understanding the multiplier effect ship of energy with Human Development Index is to follow Amory Lovins’ logic of negawatts or the (HDI) is well known and established (HDR, 2016). positive impact of saving one unit of electricity on In essence, energy forms the core of Sustainable the entire electricity input-output flow (Negawatt Development Goals (SDG) initiated by the UN Power, 2017). The logic of negawatts is basically a in 2015 and adopted by countries to end poverty, unit of power that is not used or saved and hence, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all it has multiple impacts on upstream (production) (SDG, 2015). In fact, SDG 7 targets at ensuring as well as downstream (conservation) energy access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and flows. The cost of negawatts is calculated using modern energy for all. Cost Effectiveness Analysis (CEA). CEA is a form Despite the recognition of this catalytic role, of economic analysis that compares the relative energy access projects do not always make an costs and outcomes (effects) of different courses attractive business case and banks and financiers of action (Cost-effectiveness Analysis, 2017). It still have barriers in including such projects in is often used in health services. For instance, it their lending portfolios. This is partly because the is measured as the ratio of gain in health due to cost of delivering energy is usually high and the certain measure (denominator) to the cost associ- expected returns from the sale of electricity are ated with this health gain (numerator). low, increasing the risks on repayments of loans. The complex logistical and other local factors in Xegawatts, a multiplier for energy access most of the low energy access areas account for In the context of energy access, can a similar high project costs. The small quantum of energy term—Xegawatts, where X stands for the multi- delivered and consumed due to the use of energy plier, be thought of in a reverse manner. For

8 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue example, how does one unit of energy given to a household trigger the socio-economic develop- One way of understanding ment of societies? And how does one energy the multiplier effect is access project stimulate creation of other allied businesses in the vicinity such as sale and serv- to follow the positive icing of end-use appliances, microenterprises and impact of saving one unit cottage industries? Can this trigger and stimulus be captured in the denominator as gain in socio- of electricity on the entire economic development due to energy access, to input-output flow. neutralise the impact of high numerator (overall project costs) on the ratio of LCOE? Let us look at the upstream—supply side, and downstream—demand side, linkages of energy access through the lens of some of the flagship schemes of government of India. The National component. A few field visits undertaken as a Rural Health Mission (NRHM) for instance aims part of this study revealed the expected—primary at providing accessible, affordable and quality health centres were running without electricity health care to the rural population, especially because either they were not connected to the grid the vulnerable groups (National Health Mission, or had defunct diesel generators without resources 2005). One of the key features to achieve the to either repair them or to purchase fuel, whatever goals is to make the public health delivery system the case may be. fully functional, which necessarily requires both We also studied the upstream linkages of energy electricity and thermal energy for providing effec- access through solar schemes that are meant for tive sterilisation, operative and other services. providing reliable energy to decentralised and Likewise, National Rural Livelihoods Mission mostly rural locations. Poor market penetration (NRLM), (succeeded by Deen Dayal Antyodaya and limited usage of solar energy systems in rural Yojana in September 2015), which is targeting at domestic, community and enterprise sectors generating self-employment through the formu- point at unavailability on one hand to an absence lation of self-help-groups, depends on provision of confidence on the other as possible reasons. of reliable energy for several income generation However, the main findings of the overall analysis schemes such as drying and packaging of local revealed the lack of thinking and understanding farm produce, handicrafts and cottage indus- at all levels of planning and implementation, on tries and kitchens for mid-day meals etc. There how energy interplays with water-environment- are innumerable examples from across educa- food-livelihoods matrix and acts as an enabler tion, housing, sanitation among other schemes for achievement of all inclusive growth. It also that require energy as a critical input for their indicated poorly designed energy schemes, effective implementation (Pasternak, 2000; unclear policy regulations and inadequate finan- World Energy Outlook, 2004; International cial support for energy entrepreneurs to provide Energy Agency, 2010). energy services reliably and viably. Though the study is dated, but the issue that was raised about upstream and downstream linkages of institutionalising energy access and its multiplied energy access benefits in the planning process of downstream We had conducted a study in 2014 (ITP, 2014) activities, is still relevant. The partnership between analysing flagship schemes by the Indian govern- energy and non-energy entities holds the key to ment from the energy point of view on health, institutionalising this synergy. housing and livelihoods or the downstream linkages as mentioned earlier. The objective of the partnership of energy and study was to understand how energy or the lack non-energy entities of it, is impacting these schemes in attaining their Can we institutionalise the inclusion of energy said objectives and what could be the possible access as a part of health or education or irrigation ways to include energy planning as an integral infrastructure planning? Can a rooftop solar plant

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 9 For small enterprises having access to energy is a critical input for effective functioning— metal scrap entrepreneur in Baranagar Kolkata.

10 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue be included in the design/construction process http://hdr.undp.org/en/2016-report and budgetary estimates of a primary health clinic International Energy Agency (IEA). 2010. or rural school? We need to create platforms where Energy Poverty: How to make modern the providers of energy, say solar companies and energy access universal? Available at: http:// recipients of energy, such as food-processing units www.worldenergyoutlook.org/media/ jointly identify and implement an energy access weowebsite/2010/weo2010_poverty.pdf project that will maximise the benefits to both the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. 2005 entities and multiply their efforts. Energy access National Health Mission. Government of has to be considered as a means to an end and not India. Available at: nhm.gov.in/nhm/nrhm/ an end in itself. nrhm-framework-for-implementation.html Energy access and off-grid renewable energy Ministry of Statistics and Programme have become synonymous in today’s scenario Implementation. 2012. National Sample where the latter is showing a pathway to sustainable Survey 68th Round Report (2011-12): growth of rural communities while addressing Energy Sources of Indian Households for the challenges of climate change mitigation as Cooking and Lighting. Government of India. well as adaptation. The off-grid energy, provided Available at: mospi.nic.in/sites/default/files/ mostly by renewable energy technologies such publication_reports/nss_report_567.pdf as solar, wind and biomass have the potential to Negawatt Power. 2017. Available at: en.wikipedia. break the nexus of poverty and energy poverty as org/wiki/Negawatt_power some successful examples around the world have Pasternak, Alan D. 2000. Global energy futures shown (Yee, 2016). and human development: a framework for analysis. US Department of Energy, Oak endnote Ridge. Available at: http://newmaeweb. The discussion has pointed at a paradigm ucsd.edu/courses/MAE119/WI_2015/PDF- shift towards how energy access projects PublishedDocuments/GlobalEnergyFutures_ should be evaluated in order to make them and_HumanDevelopment_Pasternack-2000. strong business cases and scalable. These are pdf to quantify the multiplier effects of energy access Sustainable Development Goals: 17 goals to and, to institutionalise the energy and non-energy transform our world. 2015. Department partnerships for achieving the multiple impacts. of Public Information, United Nations. There are several other innovative approaches Available at: un.org/sustainabledevelopment/ to address the challenges of providing energy sustainable-development-goals/. access to millions around the world. One of World Energy Outlook. 2004. Chapter 10: Energy these is energy transition that focuses on ways and Development. Available at: http://www. to increase the energy productivity from a worldenergyoutlook.org/media/weowebsite/ decarbonised, secure and reliable energy sector. energydevelopment/WEO2004Chapter10.pdf. An integrated mix of fossil fuel and renewable World Energy Outlook 2016- Executive resources based technologies deployed through Summary. 2016. International Energy Agency, centralised and decentralised modes is a channel 9 rue de la Fédération 75739 Paris Cedex 15, for this transition. France. Available at: iiea.org/ publications/ freepublications/ publication/ World Energy references Outlook2016 Executive Summary English. Analysis of Government of India’s flagship pdf. schemes from an energy point of view. 2014. Yee, A. 2016. In rural Bangladesh, solar power Project Report of ITP India. Available at: dents poverty. The New York Times, October 4, itpower.co.in/projects/energy-policy-and- 2016. Available at: nytimes.com/2016/10/04/ strategy-projects/ opinion/in-rural-bangladesh-solar-power- Cost-effective Analysis. 2017. Available at: dents-poverty.html. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost-effectiveness_ analysis#cite_note-CEAvCBA-1 The author is the CEO, IT Power Private Limited, New Human Development Report, 2016. Available at: Delhi. [email protected]

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 11 EnErgy accEss

THE ENERGY MIX CONUNDRUM World over, the move is towards renewable energy. However, India is registering steady rise in the consumption of coal.

12 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue THE By Staff RepoRteR ENERGY MIX CONUNDRUM

Takingat present, cue from India many sources developed 33.2 andper developing cent of its energyeconomies, from Indianon- needsfossil to move fuel fromsources—nuclear, a price-based

o: Prasad hydro,to an small income-based hydro, wind, support solar

Pho T systemand for bio-power. farmers.

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 13 reliable supply of electrical energy is 2016). China’s move towards limiting air pollution indispensable to a nation’s economic is deemed primarily responsible for this decrease. growth. However, with changing Simultaneously, a marked restraint in CO2 produc- climatic regimes, taking cognizance tion was also noted during 2014-16—the overall of the environmental repercussions growth in average carbon dioxide emissions being Aof fossil fuel based power generation has become a the lowest over any three-year period since 1981-83 global obligation. Therefore, energy authorities in (British Petroleum, 2017). each country need to collaborate in taking major In absolute terms, the three major consumers of decisions on fundamental structural changes to coal in the world are China, India and USA respec- enable sustainable energy transitions. tively. USA has reduced its coal consumption from While a multitude of technological and resource options create opportunities, they also throw up new challenges. Efficiency, availability, affordablity Fig. 1: Carbon emissions from fossil fuels and sustainability are the major domains that need to be considered while deciding on the expansion 228.6CO2 per million Btu or reduction of any one particular source of power. Figure 1 presents a comparison of the different Coal (anthracite) amounts of CO2 (in pounds) emitted per million units of energy output (British Thermal Units) compiled by the US Energy Information Admin- 215.4 CO2 per million Btu istration (EIA). It reveals that coal in all its varied Coal (Lignite) forms, is the worst offender when it comes to carbon emission. It is but natural that most nations world over would aim at transitioning from polluting coal based energy sources to cleaner and greener 214.3 CO2 per million Btu sources—nuclear, hydro, solar and wind. Coal (subbituminous) In the world as a whole, the share of most of the sources of energy have remained more or less stagnant between 2011 and 2016, with the exception of renewable energy. It has increased from 1.68 to 3.16 205.7CO2 per million Btu per cent. Within the thermal sector, oil remains Coal (Bituminous) stagnant at 33 per cent, but the share of natural gas has increased and that of coal has decreased 161.3CO2 per million Btu marginally (British Petroleum, 2013 and 2017). The share of hydroelectric energy has also remained Diesel fuel and almost the same whereas the nuclear energy sector heating oil marks a fall both in absolute and in relative terms. Pearce (2017) has noted that excepting China, most nations are moving away from nuclear 157.2 CO2 per million Btu towards renewable resources. According to him, Gasoline (without safety concerns arising from past reactor disasters ethonol) of Chernobyl and Fukushima, security worries following 9/11, and increasing costs incurred while 139.0 CO2 per million Btu decommissioning aging reactors are the primary reasons for its downtrend. Propane declining importance of coal 117.0 CO2 per million Btu According to the World Energy Resources report published in 2016, the years 2014 and 2015 Natural Gas witnessed the first annual decrease in global There is a progressive decline in carbon emissions thermal coal production by 0.7 and 2.8 per cent from coal to natural gas. The emission through anthracite coal is almost double that of natural gas. respectively since 1999 (World Energy Council, Source: eia.gov

14 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue 495.5 million tonnes oil equivalent in 2011 to 358.4 india’s global adherence million tonnes oil equivalent in 2016. Even though The Conference of the Parties (COP21) under the the absolute amount of coal used by China in power UN Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC) generation remains the highest in the world, it has delivered a new universal agreement which is recorded a fall in its coal consumption since 2015 based on the voluntary commitments to climate (British Petroleum, 2013 and 2017). change actions made by each country drawn on their respective national circumstances, known as india’s energy mix Intended Nationally Determined Contributions As far as India is concerned, the share of all the (INDC). Accordingly, India has committed to have major sources of energy have fallen from 2012-2017 40 per cent cumulative installed capacity of electric excepting coal which shows an increase of about 3 power from non-fossil fuels by 2030 (Ministry of per cent (Fig. 2). Environment, Forest and Climate Change, 2015). India continues to register a steady increase in At present, India sources 33.2 per cent of its energy the consumption of coal. According to the BP from non-fossil fuel sources – nuclear, hydro, small Statistical Review of World Energy 2013 and 2017, hydro, wind, solar and bio-power. According to the amount of coal used for power generation the National Electricity Plan 2016, the share of increased from 270.6 to 411.9 million tonnes oil non-fossil fuel based installed capacity is expected equivalent from 2011 to 2016. At the same time, to increase to 46.8 per cent by the end of 2021-22 India recorded the largest increment in CO2 emis- and further to 56.5 per cent by the end of 2026- 27 sions in 2016, growing by 113.7 million tonnes or 5 (Central Electricity Authority, 2016). per cent over 2015. Growth in emissions from coal While the 2030 target as per the INDC is still and oil accounted for nearly all of the increase. thirteen years away, right now India stands five In fact, India’s position in the world with respect years away from another benchmark year in terms to CO2 emissions can be assessed from two perspec- of its domestic energy mix.The 2022 benchmark tives. Calculated on a per-capita basis, emissions concerns the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar are extremely low. Nevertheless, in absolute terms, Mission (JNNSM), launched in 2010, and then India is the third largest country in terms of CO2 revised in 2015 with higher targets. Under the emissions in the world—preceded only by China JNNSM, presently recognised as the National Solar and USA (British Petroleum, 2017). Mission (NSM), India has made a commitment to

Fig. 2 : Change in all India installed capacity (in MW) of power stations over last 5 years

17.5 57260.2MW 192163MW 58.8 Per cent Per cent ReneWaBle eneRgy COal 201 12.3 24503.5MW 7 112022.4MW 56 Per cent Per cent 20 12 13.6 44478.4MW Per cent Total (2017) The percentage shares HydRO 326848.5 of gas, diesel, nuclear, 19.5 38990.4MW hydro powers have Per cent Total (2012) declined over the years. Coal shows an increase. 199877 There is an upward trend in renewable energy. nuCleaR diesel

4780MW 6780MW 837.6 MW 1199.8MW 2.4 2.1 0.3 0.6 Per cent Per cent Per cent Per cent

7.8 25329.4MW Per cent gas 9.2 18381.1MW Per cent Source: cea.nic.in

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 15 Fig. 3: Potential and cumulative achievement of Renewable Energy in India, 2017 MW MW MW MW MW

8,181.7 MW 32,508.2MW 1,02,772 2,554 22,536 7,48,990 19,749 4,384.6 MW

114.1 MW 13,114.8 MW

Bio-Power Wind Power Small Hydro Waste to Solar Power Power Power The share of cumulative achievement out of total potential is declining from bio-power to power from waste. In terms of installed capacity, wind power heads the list. Ironically, achievement by solar power is negligible, compared to its potential. Source: Shah, 2016; MNRE, 30th June, 2017 reach a capacity of 175 GW from renewable energy spirit whereas 74,647 TMT was consumed in the sources, out of which 100 GW is to be contributed form of HSDO. The consumption of fuel oils and by solar power alone, apart from 60 GW from wind, petroleum coke, which can be used in thermal 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small power plants, were 6,632 TMT and 19,297 TMT hydro-power (Press Information Bureau, 2015). respectively, which cumulatively make up for Given this yardstick, we can examine the changes about 14 per cent of the consumption (Ministry of recorded in the energy sector of India and compare Petroleum and Natural Gas, 2017) of all petroleum it to the rest of the world. products. Therefore, in spite of oil comprising 29 per cent of India’s energy mix (British Petroleum, examining india’s commitments to 2017), it is only a small fraction of the total petro- renewable energy leum usage in India. India is heavily dependent In India, the percentage share of coal has increased on foreign imports for meeting its petroleum from 56 in 2012 to 58.8 in 2017, which is contrary to requirements and the Government plans to slash the aim of reducing coal sourced energy. This effect the import of oil and gas from 77 per cent in 2015 has been somewhat offset by the other constituents to 67 per cent by 2022 (Ministry of Petroleum and of thermal power, since the share of gas and diesel Natural Gas, 2017 ). have decreased in the past five years. As far as Hydroelectric sources of power, which constitute nuclear energy is concerned, the capacity addition a vital part of non-fuel energy sources, have reduced has been only 2000 MW between 2012 and 2017, by nearly 6 per cent. According to the National with another 2800 MW proposed for the period Electricity Plan 2016, the challenges include land 2017-22 (Central Electricity Authority, 2016). With acquisition, environmental clearances, resettle- India ratifying the Convention on Supplementary ment and rehabilitation, apart from geological and Compensation for Nuclear Damage on February technical aspects. Typically, hydro projects are high 4, 2016, the performance of the nuclear sector is cost, long gestation projects that are vulnerable to expected to grow (Singh, 2016). uncertainties (Central Electricity Authority, 2016). The main petroleum products in the Indian As a result, they are yet to become a viable alterna- market include liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), tive to thermal power in the long run. motor spirit, high speed diesel oil (HSDO), petro- The all India installed capacity of power stations leum coke and fuel oil including both furnace oil sourced from renewable energy was 24,503.45 MW (FO) and low sulphur heavy stock (LSHS). Out of at the end of March 2012, which made up for about the total consumption of 1,84,674 thousand metric 12.26 per cent of the total installed power capacity. tonnes (TMT) of petroleum products in 2015-16, At the end of March 2017, the corresponding figure 21,847 TMT was consumed in the form of motor stood at 57,260.23 MW, comprising about 17.52 per

16 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue cent of the total. India has entered into a number nic.in/reports/committee/nep/nep_dec.pdf of international bilateral/multilateral coop- Central Electricity Authority. April 2017. Installed eration frameworks with other countries, such as Capacity. Ministry of Power, Government of USA (biofuels), South Africa and Brazil (wind), India. p 1. Available at: https://goo.gl/SFzdxS Denmark, Australia, Iceland, Canada and Italy for Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate technological cooperation in new and renewable Change. 2015. India’s Intended Nationally energy (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Determined Contributions – Towards Climate 2017). Justice. Government of India. Available at: Based on the data from the past five years, https://goo.gl/6SB5VV another five years of capacity generation at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. 2017. same rate would result in a cumulative of a little International Cooperation. Government of more than 90,000 MW of renewable energy. At India. Available at: https://goo.gl/9C3uy3 this pace, only a minute fraction of the target Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. June can be added. At the current rate of increase, 2017. Physical Progress (Achievements). the 175 GW (175,000 MW) target seems like a Government of India. Available at: https:// remote possibility unless there is some major goo.gl/kg2yzM technological breakthrough, making renewable Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Annual energy production extremely cost-effective and Report 2016-2017. Government of India. thus, investment-worthy. Without the ability to Available at: http://www.petroleum.nic.in/ follow through, the National Solar Mission might sites/default/files/AR16-17.pdf. remain just a gesture in the right direction, failing Pearce, F. May 2017. Industry Meltdown: Is the to achieve the desired outcomes. Era of Nuclear Power Coming to an End? Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. endnote Available at: https://goo.gl/zsbW2L The data on the sources of power generation in India Press Information Bureau. 2015. Year End Review and the world show that while the major green- - Solar Power Target Reset to One Lakh MW; house gas emitters like China and USA are trying Several States Witness Silent Revolution of to cut back on their coal usage, India still depends Rooftop Solar Power Generation; National on fossil fuel based thermal power for about 67 Wind Energy Policy Brought in; PM Launches per cent of its energy, coal making up for approxi- International Solar Alliance ; 56 Solar Cities mately 59 per cent. Owing to various uncertainties in the Offing; One Lakh Solar Pumps for shadowing the major hydro-electric projects and Irrigation; Renewable Energy Law to be civil liability concerns in nuclear plants, renewable Enacted. Government of India, New Delhi. sources of energy need to be prioritised emphati- Available at: pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease. cally in the coming years to curb pollution levels. aspx?relid=133220. Shah, R. 2016. Developments in Renewable references Energy - Current Trends & Future Prospects. British Petroleum, 2013.BP Statistical Review Power Market in India – Way Forward. IIT of World Energy June 2013. p 41. The Kanpur. Available at: https://goo.gl/HQTgxS. Róbinson Rojas Archive. Available at: www. Singh, R. K. October 2016. Nuclear Power rrojasdatabank.info/bpworld2013.pdf Sector Stirs in India as Liability Fears Ease. British Petroleum, 2017. BP Statistical Review of Bloomberg. Available at: https://goo.gl/ World Energy June 2017. p 9. Available at: uyB3q8. https://goo.gl/kzEvhU U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2017. Central Electricity Authority. July 2012. Installed How much carbon dioxide is produced when Capacity. Ministry of Power, Government of different fuels are burned? U.S. Department of India. pp. 14-16. Available at: www.cea.nic. Energy, Washington DC. Available at: www. in/reports/monthly/installedcapacity/2012/ eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=73&t=11. installed_capacity-03.pdf World Energy Council, 2016. World Energy Central Electricity Authority. December 2016. Resources 2016 Summary.World Energy Draft National Electricity Plan. Ministry of Council, London. Available at: https://goo.gl/ Power, Government of India. Available at: cea. iy68Y8.

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 17 PersPectives on coal

Coal Quality and Quantity in

IndIaBy Staff RepoRteR

Coal has been the main source of energy in India and through increased coal production, coal is still fulfilling the energy demands of the country. The quality of coal has always remained a matter of concern—presently being improved through regulatory mechanisms and technological initiatives.

18 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue Sad Imported coal stockpiled at the Kochi Shipyard, Kerala, waiting to be transported to local industries. Photo: Pra Photo:

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 19 ndia’s coal mining has a long history starting by Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, from 1774 when Sumner and Heatly of the Telangana, Maharashtra and West Bengal (Fig. 1). East India Company began mining the Rani- In India coal is broadly classified into two types— ganj coalfield along the western bank of river coking and non-coking. Coking coal is primarily Damodar. India’s large coal reserves have used in steel and metallurgical industries whereas beenI its main source of energy since then. non-coking coal is used for power generation. In 1853, with the introduction of the steam loco- There are further divisions which include—semi- motive, Indian coal mining received a boost after coking coal, mainly used as blendable coal in steel poor exploitation for about a century. With height- making, merchant coke manufacturing and other ened demand, coal production increased rapidly metallurgical industries. Washed coking coal is used within a short span—from 6.12 million tonnes (mts) in manufacturing of hard coke for steel making and per year in 1900 to 18 mts per year by 1920. After the washed non-coking coal is used mainly for power First World War, production reached 29 mts in 1942 generation. Middling and rejects are used in boilers and 30 mts in 1946 (Ministry of Coal, 2017a). India’s for power generation, road repairs, briquette making, independence led to a further rise in production. The land filling, brick manufacturing units and cement National Coal Development Corporation (NCDC) plants (Coal Controller’s Organisation, 2016). was established in 1956 with the felt need of scientific and systematic coal mining. Coal quality The oil price shock in early 70’s and the growing Categorised or graded based on type, ash content, realisation that the coal sector was not going to be moisture content, useful heat value (UHV) and successful in hands of private stakeholders led to it gross calorific value (GCV), India’s coal has a deep being nationalised. Undertaken in phases, Coking inventory. Coking coal is graded on the basis of ash Coal Mines (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1971, content (Fig. 2), while semi-coking coal is graded Coking Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1972, based on ash and moisture content (Fig. 3), and Coal Mines (Taking over of Management) Act, 1973 non-coking coal is graded based on three param- and Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973, were eters—UHV, ash and moisture content and GCV implemented. (Table 1). Subsequently, Coal India Limited (CIL) was estab- Coal production in the country is dominated lished in 1975 to manage coal mines. Nationalisation by non-coking coal as coking coal reserves in the was done with a view country are limited. High production of non- ◆ to halt wasteful, selective and slaughter mining coking coal is also due to demand from the power and put in place planned development of available sector. Though India is doing exceptionally in coal resources; coal production to fulfil the energy demands of ◆ to improve safety standards; the country, quality of coal has always remained ◆ to ensure adequate investment for optimal utilisa- a matter of concern, especially for power sector as tion consistent with growth needs; and, India’s coal has a high ash and low calorific content ◆ to improve the quality of life of the work force (Chikkatur, 2008). (Coal India Limited, 2017a). recent government interventions Coal quantity and Cil initiatives India now ranks as the third largest coal producing PAT (Perform, Achieve and Trade), a target setting country in the world after China and USA. It has methodology for power sector in India under the been estimated that the country has 301.56 billion National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency tonnes of coal and currently it meets about 55 per (NMEEE), 2008 is a major initiative taken by the cent of India’s primary commercial energy needs Indian government that raised the demand for (Ministry of Coal, 2017b). About 75 per cent of good quality coal. It is a regulatory mechanism power generation is coal based in India. As of 2015- that enforces energy intensive industries to reduce 16, the country has been producing about 639 mts of specific energy consumption. This is enabled coal per year (Coal Controller’s Organisation, 2016; through market based mechanisms to enhance the Ministry of Coal, 2017b and 2017c). cost effectiveness through certification of saving the Odisha leads in the production of coal, followed excess energy that can be traded (Bureau of Energy

20 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue Fig. 1: Coal production in top seven states of India, 2006-16

121.07 138.46 130.61

140

120 107.71

100

80 Jharkhand 60.38 Chhattisgarh

Million tonnes 60 Odisha

40 Madhya Pradesh 38.35 Telangana 20

Maharashtra 25.75 0

2006-07 West Bengal 2010-11

Source: Report on provisional coal statistics, 2015-2016. 20015-16

There has been an overall increase in production of about 208 million tonnes of coal between 2007-08 and 2015-16. Highest increase is from Odisha—about 57 million tonnes whereas West Bengal has shown least increase of only about 0.8 million tonnes.

Efficiency, 2017a). the effective quality. PAT Cycle-I (2012-13 to 2014-15) was introduced To remove such taints CIL has taken various steps. to reduce the energy consumption from eight energy In 2012, CIL took a major initiative to change the intensive sectors—aluminium, cement, chlor-alkali, grading system from the earlier UHV based grading fertiliser, iron and steel, paper and pulp, thermal to the gross GCV grading to provide value for money power plant and textile. Currently, there are 737 to the consumers. Also, in the same year, CIL decided designated consumers (DCs) from PAT Cycle I, to open 20 coal washeries to provide washed coal to PAT Cycle II (2016-17 to 2018-19) and PAT Cycle III the industry (Press Information Bureau, 2012a). (2017-18 to 2019-20) participating under the scheme. Presently, CIL has taken up installation of 15 coal This has further raised the demand for good quality washeries based on build, operate and maintain coal from coal based industries (Bureau of Energy scheme (Venugopal, Patel and Bhar, 2016). Selective Efficiency, 2017b). mining by introduction of the Surface Miner in Disputes regarding low grade supply have been an opencast mine and Continuous Miner in under- integral part of India’s coal scenario that often led, ground mine are another major step taken by CIL especially the power sector users such as National (Press Information Bureau, 2016b). Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), to question In 2015, the Indian government intervened

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 21 Modernisation of energy plants involves complex infrastructure outlay. between NTPC and CIL after a standoff between tion (CCO). It has started the grading and notifying them over the supply of low grade coal— with the the mines of Coal India Ltd from April 2017. It is introduction of a third party mechanism to check a significant change from the present practice of the quality of coal. In January 2016, a new system for internal grading by Coal India. This could lead to sampling and testing of the dry fuel has been adopted a major change in the existing grades given to the to ensure supply of quality coal to consumers. Now, mines. Earlier, this grading was being done by the a set of standard operating procedures (SoP) are also coal producing subsidiaries of CIL only. adopted by the CIL for third party sampling (TPS) at loading ends. In fact the Central Institute for Mining Contemporary concerns and Fuel Research (CIMFR) has been appointed as Though coal quality has always been the major the independent TPS agency for both the power concern because of high ash and moisture content, plants and the coal companies. It was decided that there are other problems that affect coal mining in all coal will be crushed to requisite levels before India. For growing industries such as steel, coking transportation except for pit head plant that does not coal is very scarce. Outdated mining technologies, require such crushing. CIL has been providing 100 especially in state owned plants, lead to inefficiency mm crushed coal to power plants since January 2016 in power generation and non-optimum use of coal (Coal India Limited, 2017b and 2017c). (insightsonindia.com, 2015) Mining of coal is also Another recent initiative includes the control of facing issues of environmental clearance and tribal grading of coal by the Coal Controller’s Organisa- resistance. Another major issue that has recently

22 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue Fig. 2: Grading of coking coal

Grade ash content

Steel grade - I Not exceeding 15 per cent

Exceeding 15 per cent but below Steel grade - II 18 per cent

Washery grade - I Exceeding 18 per cent but below 21 per cent

Exceeding 21 per cent but below Washery grade - II 24 per cent

Exceeding 24 per cent but below Washery grade - III 28 per cent

Exceeding 28 per cent but Washery grade - IV below 35 per cent

Source: Ministry of Coal, Government of India, 2014c.

Fig. 3: Grading of semi-coking coal Grade ash + Moisture content

Semi coking grade - I Not exceeding 19 per cent

Exceeding 19 per cent but below Semi coking grade - II 24 per cent

Source: Ministry of Coal, Government of India, 2014c.

Table 1: Grading of non-coking coal Grade Useful heat value (UHV) (Kcal/Kg) Corresponding ash per cent + Gross calorific value GCV (Kcal/ Kg) (at UHV= 8900-138 (ash content + moisture per cent at (60 per cent 5 per cent moisture level) moisture content) relative humidity and 40oC) A Exceeding 6200 Not exceeding 19.5 Exceeding 6454 B Exceeding 5600 but below 6200 19.6 to 23.8 Exceeding 6049 but below 6454

C Exceeding 4940 but below 5600 23.9 to 28.6 Exceeding 5597 but below 6049

D Exceeding 4200 but below 4940 28.7 to 34.0 Exceeding 5089 but below 5597

E Exceeding 3360 but below 4200 34.1 to 40.0 Exceeding 4324 but below 5089

F Exceeding 2400 but below 3360 40.1 to 47.0 Exceeding 3865 but below 4324

G Exceeding 1300 but below 2400 47.1 to 55.0 Exceeding 3113 but below 3865

Source: Ministry of Coal, Government of India, 2014c.

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 23 Large industrial gear in an abandoned coal mine, Jharia, Jharkhand.

24 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue come to light is the downgrading of 177 mines out DesktopModules/DocumentList/documents/ of 413 mines of Coal India Limited by CCO on the Standard_Operating_Procedures_(S.O.P)_ basis of quality concerns (Kanungo, 2017). Though duly_approved_by_CIL_18022015.pdf it will benefit the power producer in terms of cost Coal India Limited. 2017c. Supply of 100 of coal, it will burden CIL with the need to enhance mm crushed coal. Government of India. production of good quality coal. Available at: https://www.coalindia.in/ The government has recently announced the DesktopModules/DocumentList/documents/ commercialisation of coal mining after 44 years of Supply_of_-_100_mm_crushed_coal_to_ nationalisation (Dutta, 2017). Four identified blocks Power_Stations_04022016.pdf will be up for bidding for commercial mining. Earlier Dutta, S. 2017. Coal ministry to allow commercial the private sector was allowed to mine coal for its own mining by private companies. Times of use—now it will be allowed to sell to others as well. India,Feb 2. Available at: http://timesofindia. Though privatisation is being seen as a challenge for indiatimes.com/business/india-business/ CIL as it will have to turn very efficient to up the game, coal-ministry-to-allow-commercial-mining-by- the move will help in enhancing domestic production. private-companies/articleshow/56940490.cms However, coal being opened for profit making may Initiative Reports. Kennedy School of Government, lead to increase in price of coal and electricity. The Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Available answer whether privatisation will lead to growth or at: https://www.c2es.org/docUploads/india-coal- to the era prior to nationalisation is yet to be revealed. technology.pdf Kanungo,S. 2017. 177 mines of Coal India endnote downgraded on quality concerns. Though through coal India has been fulfilling Livemint, April 17. Available at: http:// energy demands, dependency on such non-renew- www.livemint.com/Companies/ able source in coming decades is matter of concern. xBwLitZoEzpFMOv7vHKtzK/177-mines-of- Improving coal production and its quality is not Coal-India-downgraded-on-quality-concerns. going to help for long. It is time to see the future of html. energy in India through renewable energy sources Ministry of Coal. 2017a.History/Background. such as solar and nuclear energy. Government of India. Available at: http://coal. nic.in/content/historybackground. references Ministry of Coal. 2017b. Coal Reserves. Bureau of Energy Efficiency. 2017a. National Government of India. Available at: http://coal. Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency. nic.in/content/coal-reserves. Ministry of Power, Government of India. Ministry of Coal. 2017c. Production and Supplies. Available at: https://www.beeindia.gov.in/ Government of India. Available at: http://coal. content/nmeee-1 nic.in/content/coal-reserves. Bureau of Energy Efficiency. 2017b. PAT cycle. Press Information Bureau. 2012. Coal India Limited Ministry of Power, Government of India. to Setup 20 Coal Washeries. Government of Available at: https://beeindia.gov.in/content/ India. Available at:http://pib.nic.in/newsite/ pat-cycle PrintRelease.aspx?relid=90257. Chikkatur, A. 2008. A Resource and Technology Press Information Bureau. 2016. Initiatives taken Assessment of Coal Utilization in India. Coal for improvement in quality of Low Grade Coal. Coal Controller’s Organisation. 2016. Report on Government of India. Available at: http://pib.nic. provisional coal statistics, 2015-2016. Ministry of in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=147911. Coal, Government of India. Available at: https:// Venugopal, R., Patel, J.and Bhar, C. 2016. Coal goo.gl/GoibpQ washing scenario in India and future prospects. Coal India Limited. 2017a. History. Government of International Journal of Coal Science Technology, India. Available at: https://www.coalindia.in/ 3 (2): 191-197. Available at: https://link.springer. en-us/company/history com/article/10.1007/s40789-016-0133-2 Coal India Limited. 2017b. Standard Oper- http://www.insightsonindia.com/2015/09/07/2- ating Procedures. Government of India. critically-discuss-the-problems-and- Available at: https://www.coalindia.in/ prospects-of-coal-sector-in-india/.

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 25 PersPectives on coal COAL IN ENERGYBy D N PrasaD PLANNING OF

INDIAEnergy is a critical input for economic development. Almost one third of India’s population do not have access to electricity and a majority of population is still dependent on biomass for their cooking needs.

26 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue Coal is likely to play a major role complementing renewable energy sources for years to come especially in energy starved

Photo: PrasadPhoto: areas such as Champaran, Bihar

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 27 ndia is facing tough challenges in making energy by 2030, and required amounts of energy available to all. ◆ Creation of an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to Almost 30 per cent of the nation’s population 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through still do not have access to electricity. Without additional forest and tree cover by 2030. targeted global action, the International (MoEF&CC, 2015). EnergyI Agency (IEA) estimates that in 2035, there It is envisaged that there will be universal access will still be one billion people without access to to electricity by 2030 and the per capita electricity electricity and 2.7 billion without access to clean supply will be more than 2500 Kwh per year cooking fuels (World Coal Association, 2012). compared to current level of 1010 Kwh (India Globally, around 30 per cent of primary energy Energy Forum, 2016). and 41 per cent of electricity generation is coal As of 2016-17, India generated about 1160 Twh based (International Energy Agency, 2016). Coal of energy excluding 82 Twh from renewables. The is thus likely to play a major role complementing energy requirement by 2030 is projected to be about renewable energy sources and will be a key source 2499 Twh which is envisaged to be met through of energy to address gaps in wind and solar powered about 1000 Twh from renewable energy sources electricity. According to the IEA, global electricity and the balance mainly through coal (moef.gov. from coal is expected to grow by around 33 per cent in). Thus coal has to play a critical role in the years till 2040. Demand for coal in south-east Asia alone to come despite a push to renewables. is expected to increase 4.8 per cent a year through to 2035 (World Coal Association, 2015). Coal production India’s situation is no different. With over 55 per Trends in country’s coal production over the last cent share in primary energy supply and over 75 per ten years indicate that from about 431 million cent share in electricity generation, coal is playing tonnes in 2006-07, it has reached about 659 a critical role in supporting India’s energy plans. million tonnes in 2016-17, implying a compound Further with over 308 billion tonnes of estimated average annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.3 per coal resources and 44 billion tonnes of lignite cent (Ministry of Coal, 2017). As against this, resources, coal provides for energy security of the the production is expected to grow by over 15 per country compared to other resources (Ministry of cent if the demand for coal, particularly for power Coal, 2017). Our dependence on coal is to continue sector comes through in the next four years’ period. for quite some time into the future. Further, the Indian government wants to replace Out of about 327 GW of currently installed import of non-coking coals (also known as thermal generation capacity in India as of March 2017, about coals) through expansion of domestic production. 192 GW (59 per cent) is coal based. Similarly, out However, import of coking coal would continue on of a total generation of about 1160 billion kilowatt account of resource constraints. hours (trillion watt hour - Twh) achieved in 2016-17 (excluding about 82 Twh from renewable sources), Challenges of the coal sector about 80 per cent was coal based (Central Electricity Currently public sector coal companies namely, Authority, 2017). Of late, however, coal offtake is Coal India Ltd (CIL) with seven of its coal getting adversely affected due to poor financial producing subsidiary companies and Singareni conditions of a number of distribution companies Collieries Co. Ltd. (SCCL) constitute about 93 per across states. cent while others contribute about 7 per cent of coal Taking into account the Paris Agreement or production (Ministry of Coal, 2017). This share is Conference of Parties—CoP 21 protocol on likely to continue in the near future unless all the combating climate change, the Ministry of Envi- 84 captive blocks allocated to both private (31) and ronment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) public sector companies (53) enter into production has indicated the intended post 2020 actions to be as planned. Currently coal mining is being done achieved by 2030 under the Nationally Determined for commercial purposes only by the public sector. Contributions (NDCs). They are as follows: Private sector is mining coal for captive consump- ◆ Commitment to reduce the emissions intensity tion. Therefore it is important to also permit private of GDP by 33-35 per cent by 2030 over 2005 level; sectors to take up commercial coal mining for ◆ Forty per cent of the cumulative electric power which the law has been amended in 2015 through installed capacity to be non-fossil fuel based Coal Mines Special Provisions Act. This needs

28 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue offer of suitable coal blocks through auction to the private sector by the government. The current overall productivity of about 7 tonnes Coal will play a major per person needs to be significantly improved by role complementing CIL (Ministry of Coal, 2016). Improvement in productivity and mechanization will be impor- renewable energy tant operational aspects of coal companies for sources and will be a enhancing the production. Similarly, improvement in safety of operations is another area which needs key source of energy to thorough retrospection and critical planning by address gaps in wind coal companies for sustaining and enhancing the level of coal production. and solar powered Coal sector is facing tough challenges in land electricity. acquisition. Coal bearing states need to review their policies in making the required land available to coal companies. Land leasing may be an option. where economic exploitation of coal is completed Also, compensation package in terms of annuity or reserves have been exhausted. Excavated areas without the need for providing employment to the need not necessarily cover coal bearing areas. project affected persons may be a better way. It will Coal quality is an area of concern due to high ash reduce the cost of mining. content in our coals. The government and industry have emphasised crushing, sizing and washing of environmental management coal to comply with environmental stipulations In case of opencast mining, large tracts of land i.e., supply of coal of <34 per cent ash to thermal are involved and the land use pattern undergoes power stations if it needs to be transported over 500 change during the course of mining. Also air, km from the source or for those located at critically water and sound pollution are causes of concern. polluted load centres. Third party sampling at In case of underground mining land subsidence is despatch end is taken up for addressing disputes on an issue. However, strict compliance of mitigation slippage of grade i.e. difference in grade of coal actu- measures as per the conditions of environmental ally dispatched and the one contracted for between clearance addresses these issues although rigorous the consumer and coal supplier at this despatch monitoring is important in achieving the same. point. Thermal coals are divided into 17 grades Of late surface miners—coal cutting machines, from G1 to G17 (the lowest grade) on the basis of have emerged to be following an environment gross calorific value of coal (GCV) or heat value. friendly technology for opencast mining, avoiding Sometimes the despatched grade of coal does not drilling and blasting. This reduces dust generation match with the billed one, which leads to slippage and ground vibrations with a provision for selective in quality or grade. Under such circumstances, the mining for quality improvement. Mass production third party sampling is resorted to cross-check the technologies deploying continuous miners and quality of coal being despatched. longwall technology are able to provide a faster rate In addition to setting up of washeries by the public of extraction of coal even from deeper horizons. sector coal companies like CIL, it is also proposed Reclamation of mined out areas and afforesta- to encourage and facilitate setting up of washeries tion are critical in bringing these areas to more by the end user companies or by a third party on or less its pre-mining conditions. As per the behalf of consumers at pit heads wherever feasible. CIL, for each hectare of forest land diverted for Commitment by consumers is critical for investing mining, coal companies are afforesting about in washeries by coal companies. However, the power 2.5 hectares of land. sector has exhibited reservations on use of washed Central Mine Planning and Design Institute coal due to the additional cost incurred for washing Ltd., (CMPDIL) reveals that about 21,000 hectares despite benefits in terms of economics and environ- of mined out land was biologically reclaimed by ment through use of washed coal. The additional the subsidiary companies of CIL against about cost is adversely affecting merit order despatch 51,200 hectares of excavated area till March 2016. It of power. This needs proper understanding and may be mentioned that total mined out land is one intervention by the government for promoting use

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 29 of washed coal for power generation. (transportation fuel) using coal resources and devel- For strengthening coal evacuation, rail infra- opment of coal to liquids and coal to polychemicals structure is another critical link in the entire coal are assuming priority. Further, development of the production chain. The three critical rail lines in underground coal gasification policy is in place and three potential coalfields namely Tori-Shivpur- identification of suitable blocks is underway. This Katothia in North Karanpura of Jharkhand, would pave way for extracting energy from coal Bhupdevpur-Kharsia-Dharamjaigarh in Mand- and lignite seams which are not mineable other- Raigarh of Chhattisgarh and Jharsuguda-Barpali wise. Underground coal gasification is a technology in Ib valley of Odisha which are at an advanced which converts coal in situ into synthetic gas for use stage of construction need to be completed on for power generation or fertiliser manufacture, etc. priority basis for realising the additional produc- As far as the power sector is concerned, all new tion potential from these areas. coal based units would need to be super critical or Coal companies are also planning commercial ultra-supercritical technology based units. They extraction of coal bed methane (CBM)/coal mine are equipping themselves to comply with new envi- methane (CMM) from their lease-hold areas. ronmental standards that will come into force from However, several contesting issues have to be sorted December 2017. Compliance of new environmental out by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, norms is envisaged to have an impact on capital which is in charge of commercial extraction of expenditure (CapEx) with an additional invest- CBM. ment of INR 1.15 cr to 2.5 cr per MW of installed Surface coal gasification is the method of capacity and would not be economical for plants converting coal into syngas using gasifiers on with residual life of ten years or so. The additional surface. This technology helps in extracting the CapEx would have an impact of INR 0.40 to 0.90 available energy in coal more efficiently compared paise per unit on the cost of bulk supply of power to burning of coals in boilers. One such effort is to (Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, 2017) revive the Talcher Fertiliser Plant using the coal The high efficiency low emission (HELE) tech- for producing urea. Also production of methanol nologies, envisaged to reduce coal consumption,

30 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue would assist in carrying forward our commitments alising and urbanising economies including India. towards climate change while meeting our energy Despite accelerated efforts for enhancing renew- needs. We should also consider carbon capture and able energy, it is envisaged that coal will continue to use (CCU) for sustaining our dependence on coal. play an important role in meeting country’s energy It is important to address the following to enable requirements up to 2030 and beyond. the development of the coal sector: ◆ Enhancement of exploration activities for coal references with a view to cover balance areas and also to Central Electricity Authority. 2017. All India cover resources under indicated and inferred installed power capacity (in MW). Ministry of categories into proved category. Power, Government of India. Available at: http:// ◆ Coal production enhancement in line with the www.cea.nic.in/reports/monthly/installedca- projected demand of power and other sectors to pacity/2017/installed_capacity-03.pdf. do away with imports of thermal coals. Proper International Energy Agency. 2016. Medium-term demand projections considering the dynamics of coal market report 2016. Available at: https:// energy sector. www.iea.org/newsroom/news/2016/december/ ◆ Introduction of commercial mining to supple- medium-term-coal-market-report-2016.html. ment the efforts of national coal companies and Ministry of Coal. 2016. Annual report 2015-2016. to inculcate competition is important. Government of India. Available at: http://www. ◆ Adoption of appropriate technologies for coal.nic.in/sites/upload_files/coal/files/coalu- better productivity, environment friendly and pload/chap6AnnualReport1516en.pdf. improved safety provisions for coal production. Ministry of Coal. 2017. Annual Report 2016-2017. ◆ Emphasis on enhancement of coal production Government of India. Available at: http://www. from underground mines. coal.nic.in/sites/upload_files/coal/files/coalu- ◆ Improvement of quality of coal through adoption pload/chap1AnnualReport1617en.pdf of suitable technologies. Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate ◆ Focus on lignite development for power genera- Change. 2015. Documents and Publications- tion. Presentation on INDC in press conference on ◆ Emphasis on cutting edge clean coal technologies 02-10-15. Government of India. Available at: like development of coal bed methane, under- http://www.moef.nic.in/climate-change-docs- ground coal gasification, surface coal gasification, and-publications coal to liquids, and coal to poly chemicals etc. Penny, K. and Cronshaw, I. 2015. Coal in India 2015. ◆ Emphasis on environmental management with Department of Industry and Science, Australian a view to realise the objectives of sustainable Government. Available at: https://www.industry. development and the commitment made under gov.au/Office-of-the-Chief-Economist/Publica- NDCs. tions/Documents/Coal-in-India.pdf. ◆ Focussed approach on research and development World Coal Association. 2012. Coal Energy for in the coal sector. sustainable development. Available at: www. ◆ Innovative land acquisition models and simplified worldcoal.org/sites/default/files/resources_files/ procedures for obtaining statutory clearances. coal_-_energy_for_sustainable_develop- ◆ Strengthening rail infrastructure for coal evacu- ment_final per cent2816_04_2012 per cent29.pdf. ation. World Coal Association. 2015. WCA urges G7 leaders to invest more in cleaner technologies. endnote Available at: https://www.worldcoal.org/ Coal is an important driver of affordable and reli- wca-urges-g7-leaders-recognise-climate- able energy to support economic development and action-needs-greater-investment-cleaner-coal- competitiveness. It plays a major role in industri- technologies. http://indiaenergyforum.org/6thcoalsummit/ thermal plant locations are granted presentaions/day1/Coal per cent20Policy per environmental clearances based on the air, cent20Initiatives-6.9.2016.pptx. water and soil conditions of the region. If an area is already in the red zone, more units The author is Former Adviser, Ministry of Coal, cannot be established. Government of India. [email protected]

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 31 PersPectives on coal Coal Fields in india By Staff RepoRteR Nearness to coal deposits has been advantageous to the industrial locations that have to transport the bulkier raw material to production sites. Such locational advantages are, however, losing their tenacity in the present times.

t was in 1909 that Alfred Weber formulated limit. This estimation is based on the average speed a theory of industrial location. Simply of freight trains, which is about 25 km per hour, speaking, he sought to determine the ideal carrying goods such as coal. At this speed,the trains location for the production of goods which would cover an approximate 300 km to reach desti- would depend upon least costs, both in nation demand centres in an overnight journey. termsi of the total costs of transporting raw mate- Four government undertakings having a slightly rial to the production site and product from the more than half, about 55 per cent, of coal production production site to the market. The weight of the by Coal India Limited (CIL) have been considered raw materials and the final commodity are impor- for the analysis. They are Bharat Coking Coal tant determinants of the transport costs and the Limited (BCCL), Mahanadi Coalfields Limited location of production. Commodities that lose (MCL), Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) and mass during production—a reduced amount of Western Coalfields Limited (WCL). These compa- processed bulk,can be transported less expensively nies operate in the coalfields of Raniganj, Jharia, from the production site to the market whereas Talcher, Ib Valley, Singrauli, Pench-Kanhan, it is more expensive to transport the heavier raw Kamptee, Bander-Umrer and Wardha Valley. material to the production site. The production Coal India Limited (CIL) is a state owned coal site, therefore, will prefer to be located near the mining company controlled by the Ministry of raw material sources. For example, industries like Coal, Government of India. Operating through 82 iron and steel, which use very large quantities of mining areas, it is one of the largest coal producers coal and iron ore, losing lot of weight in the process in the world. It holds about 84 per cent share in of manufacturing, are generally located near the coal production in India with seven wholly owned sources of coal and iron ore. Added to these are coal producing subsidiaries, one fully controlled non-geographical historical factors whereby indus- coal producing unit and one mine planning and tries tend to develop at the place of their original consultancy company in India. They are Eastern establishment. Coalfields Limited (ECL), Bharat Coking Coal The research team at Geography and You Limited (BCCL), Central Coalfields Limited attempted to analyse the locational advantage of (CCL), South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), coal fields (Fig 1) vis-à-vis coal consumers. For Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), Northern this, a radius of 300 km was taken as the physical Coalfields Limited (NCL), Mahanadi Coalfields

32 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue Fig 1: Major 1 coalfields of 13 3 8 2 5 12 10 7 4 India 14 21 17 1110 6 34 30 23 19 9 31 33 20 35 22 18 16 15 32 29 24 28 27 36 26 37 25 38

1 Namchik - Namphuk 14 Rajmahal 27 Mand - Raigarh 39 2 Makum 15 Raniganj 28 Korba 3 Dilli - Jeypore 16 Jharia 29 Sohagpur 4 Jhanzi- Disai 17 Giridh 30 Singrauli Source : Geological Survey of India 5 Mikir hills 18 East West Bokaro 31 Sonhat 6 Bapung 19 North South Karanpura 32 Johilla 7 Mawlong - Shella 20 Auranga 33 Umaria Balphakram - Pendenggru Daltonganj Korar Limited (MCL), North Eastern Coalfields (NEC) 8 21 34 and Central Mine Planning and Design Institute 9 Langrin 22 Hutar 35 Pench - Kanhan Limited (CMPDIL). 10 East West Darangiri 23 Tatapani - Ramkola 36 Kamptee The production of CIL has increased over the 11 Sijiu 24 Bisrampur 37 Bander - Umrer years. Figure 2 indicates the increase in production 12 Singrimari 25 Talcher 38 Wardha Valley by CIL between 2010-11 and 2015-16. 13 Rangit Valley 26 Ib - Valley 39 Godavari Valley

Fig 2: Company wise production of coal

SCCL 60.4 51.3

40.2 ECL 30.8 2015-16 2010-11 Overall coal 35.9 production of CIL Total Public 606.7 485.1 BCCL 29.0 has increased by Total Private 32.6 48.0 105.2 million tonnes All India 639.3 533.1 CCL 61.3 between 2010-11 and 47.5 2015-16. MCL has shown the highest NCL 80.2 66.3 increase in production of about 37 million 44.8 tonnes whereas WCL 1 WCL 1 43.7 marked the least - Index 0 Quantity in increase of about 1.1 1 135.6

Bharat Coking Coal Limited - BCCL 0 Million tonnes SECL million tonnes only.

112.7

The NEC, however

Central Coalfields Limited - CCL

showed a decline.

1 Coal India Limited - CIL

137.9

Eastern Coalfields Limited - ECL 5 MCL

1 100.3

Mahanadi Coalfields Limited - MCL Northern Coalfields Limited - NCL 0.5 North Eastern Coalfields - NEC NEC 1.1 Singareni Collieries Company Limited - SCCL 538.7 South Eastern Coalfields Limited - SECL CIL Western Coalfields Limited - WCL 431.3

Geo graphy and You . July-August 2017 33 singrauli The Singrauli coalfield is operated by the Coalfields Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) and is Basti a major contributor to the energy security Barwala 1020 km Jhajhar 871 km of the nation. The map alongside depicts Delhi 778 km the Singaruli coalfield along with the major Suratgarh 1221 km Raebareli Mau consumers of NCL. Majority of consumers— Balia 66.67 per cent, comprising of mainly Kota 1018 km Varanasi producers of thermal power, are located Paricha Allahabad Chandaur within 300 km from the coalfields, depicted 517 km by the large circle. It can be seen in the map Gaya below that some of large industrial ventures Sidhi Aurangabad are located within the limit. Daltonganj Singrauli Hazaribag

Shadol Ranchi Jabalpur

Korba Simdega Kawardha Raigarh Bilaspur Jharsuguda

Consumers

Kota Thermal Power Station (Kota) Suratgarh Thermal Power Station (Suratgarh) Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Plant (Hisar) Aravali Power Company Pvt. Ltd. (Jhajjar) Jhajjar Power Ltd. (Jhajjar) Rajghat Thermal Power Station (New Delhi) Paricha Thermal Power Station (Paricha) Prayagraj Power Generation Co. Ltd. (Khan Semra) Jaiprakash Associates Ltd. (Sidhi) Jaiprakash Associates Ltd. (Chunar)

Obra Thermal Power Station (Obra) Dalla Cement Factory (Dalla) Hindalco Industries Ltd. (Renukoot) Grasim Industries Ltd. (Renukoot) Rihand Super Thermal Power Project (Rihand Nagar) Singrauli Super Thermal Power Station (Shakti Nagar) Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station (Singrauli) Trimula Industries Ltd. (Godwali) Hindalco Industries Ltd. (Renusagar) Anpara D Thermal Power Station (Anpara) Lanco Anpara Power Ltd. (Anpara)

Map not to scale

34 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue Darbhanga Coalfields Supaul Balia Purnia Munger Raniganj Patna Sahibganj Bhagalpur Unchahar 591 Km Aurangabad Gaya Kanpur 694 Km Deoghar Aligarh 1000 Km Giridih Dumka Panipat 1220 Km Daltonganj Hazaribag Bhatinda 1429 Km Bokaro Dhanbad Ghandauli 1442 Km Jhansi 920 Km Ranchi Bankura Bardhman Simdega Jamshedpur Kolkata

Bhilai 648 Km Raniganj and Jharia Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) was incorporated in 1972 to operate in the Jharia and Raniganj coalfields and has been supplying bulk of coking coal Consumers to various consumers across India. However, a majority of its consumers, about 58.33 per cent, are located within NFL (Bathinda) the distance of 300 km. Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Power Station (Bathinda) Guru Govind Singh Super Thermal Power Station (Nehon) NFL (Panipat) Panipat Thermal Power Station (Panipat) Harduaganj Thermal Power Station (Aligarh) Paricha Thermal Power Station (Paricha) Panki Thermal Power Station (Panki) Unchahar Thermal Power Station (Unchahar) MTPS Kanti (Kanti)

Farakka Thermal Power Station (Farakka) MPL (Maithon) Raghunathpur Thermal Power Station (Purulia) Budge Budge Thermal Power Station (Budge Budge) Kolaghat Thermal Power Station (Kolaghat) Durgapur Thermal Power Station (Durgapur) Durgapur Project Ltd. (Durgapur) Meija Thermal Power Station (Bankura) DSTPS (Durgapur) Santhaldih Thermal Power Station (Santhaldih) Chandrapura Thermal Power Station (Chandrapura) Bokaro Steel Ltd. (Bokaro) Bokaro Thermal Power Station (Bokaro) Bhilai Steel Plant (Bhilai)

Map not to scale

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 35 Talcher and Coalfields Delhi 1226 km Hazaribag iB Valley Singrauli Taltonganj Jhajjar 1281 km Shadol Ranchi Asansol 372 km Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) has been mining from Talcher and Simdega Jamshedpur Ib Valley coalfields and is one of the Korba Kolaghat 348 km major producers of coal. It has one of Haldia 401 km the highest consumer bases, as can be Raigarh Kawardha Bilaspur seen from the map below. About 52 per Jharsuguda Sambalpur cent of these consumers were found to Durg Raipur Nagpur 526 km be within the distance of 300 km. Mahasamund Bhusawal 908 km Angul Bhubaneshwar Thoothukudi 1803 km VIZAG 415 km Vijayawada 763 km Chennai 1169 km

Shree Ganesh Metaliks Ltd. (Kalosihiria) Times Steel and Power Ltd. (Rourkela) NTPC- SAIL Power Company Pvt. Ltd. (Rourkela) Scan Steels Ltd. (Rajgangpur) SAIL (Rourkela) Jay Jagannath Steel and Power Ltd. (Rajgangpur) Jay Balaji Jyotiá Steels Ltd. (Birkera) Consumers Shri Jagannath Steels and Power Ltd. (Keonjhar) Vedanta Limited (Jharsuguda) Patnaik Steels and Alloys Ltd. (Jaganathapur) Kaushal Ferro Metals Pvt. Ltd. (Podabahal) Bhaskar Steel and Ferro Alloy Ltd. (Bad-tumkela) Action Ispat and Power Pvt. Ltd. (Jharsuguda) Rexon Strips Ltd. (Chandiposh) Aryan Ispat and Power Pvt. Ltd. (Aryanispat) Aarti Steel Limited (Cuttak) ACC Ltd. (Bargarh) Maithan Ispat Ltd. (Jajpur) OCL India Ltd. (Amiyajhari) Talwandi Saboo (Banawala) Bhubaneshwar Power Pvt. Ltd. (Cuttak) Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Plant (Hisar) Talcher Thermal Power Station (Talcher) Indira Gandhi STPS (Jhajjar) GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd (Kamalanga) Lanco Babandh Power Limited (Kurunti) Jai Balaji Industries Ltd. (Durg) Nava Bharat Ventures (Dhenkanal) Korba West Power Limited (Korba) National Aluminium Co.Ltd. (Angul) Jindal Power Limited (Tamnar) Talcher Super Thermal Power Station (Talcher) Jindal India (Derang)

Adani Power Ltd. (Shiracha)

Bhusawal Thermal Toshali Cements Pvt. Ltd. (Ampaballi) Chandrapura Thermal power Station (Chandrapura) Power Station Maa Mahamaya Industries Ltd. Ispat Damodar Pvt. Ltd. (Pochhyara) (Bhusawal) (Vizianagaram) Bakreswar Thermal Power Plant (Sadaipur) Simhadri NTPC Plant (Vizag) Durgapur Steel Thermal Power Station (Durgapur) HNPCL (Vizag) Rishab Sponge Ltd. (Bankura) Meija Thermal Power Station (Bankura) Khaperkheda Dr. NTTPS (Vijayawada) Thermal Thermal Powertech Corporation (Nellore) Rashmi Cement Ltd. (Mathurakismat) Power Station Sri Damodaram Sanjeevaiah (Nellore) Haldia Energy Limited (Haldia) OPG Power Generation Pvt. Ltd. (Thiruvallur) (Khaperkheda) Kolaghat Thermal Power Station (Kolaghat) TCP Ltd. (Thandalachery) Rashmi Ispat Ltd. (Balad Duba) Koradih Thermal North Chennai Thermal Power Station Rashmi Ispat Ltd. (Jangal Khas) Power Station (Chennai) (Koradih) NTPC Tamilnadu Energy Company Limited (Tiruvallur) Bela TPS, Ideal Energy Project Mettur Thermal Power Station (Mettur) Limited (Khursapar) Tuticorin NLC (Thoothukudi) Raichur Thermal Power Plant Map not to scale (Raichur)

36 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue Coalfields Pench-Kanhan, Lalitpur Kamptee,Bander-Mangalam Cement Ltd. Umrer & Grasim Industries Ltd.Vidyanchal Industries Pvt. Ltd. Damoh Modak 318 Km Bhopal Wardha Valley Nagda 355 Km Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd. Jabalpur About 50 per cent of the coal from Western Coalfields Seoni Limited (WCL) is distributed to consumers who are located Chindwara Kawardha Betul in central, western and southern states. The other half of Malu Paper Mills Ltd. its consumers is within the advantageous limit of 300 km. Raipur Surat 634 Km Indo Rama Petrochemicals Ltd. Nagpur Godia As one of the oldest coalfields, it has a historical anteced- Vapi 838 Km Durg Akola ence of being situated in an industrially advanced region, The Simplex Mills Co. Ltd. Wardha which continues to cater to the needs of larger area. Paithan 390 Km Maratha Cement Works Pune 603 Km Shah Paper Mills Ltd. (Vapi) Nath Pulp and Atul Ltd. (Valsad) Paper Mills Ltd. Dantewada Rama Newsprint and Paper Ltd. (Barbodhan) Nizambad J K Paper Ltd. (Gunsada) Warangal Hyderabad Harihar 1074 Km Dandeli 1014 Km Maratha Cement Works Manikgarh Cement Ultratech Cement Ltd. Consumers Murli Industries Ltd.

Grasim Industries Ltd. (Nagda) Mangalam Cement Ltd. (Kota) Vidyanchal Industries Pvt. Ltd. (Gila Khedi) Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd. (Khairi) Malu Paper Mills Ltd. (Nagpur) Indo Rama Petrochemicals Ltd. (Tembhari) Maratha Cement Works (Chandrapura) Ballarpur Industries Ltd. (Balharshah) Manikgarh Cement (Chandrapura) Ultratech Cement Ltd. (Chandrapura) Murli Industries Ltd. (Chandrapura) The Simplex Mills Co. Ltd. (Shivani) Nath Pulp and Paper Mills Ltd. (Wahegaon Vapi) West Coast Paper Mills Ltd. (Dandeli)

Harihar Polyfibers (Harihar)

Indo Afrique Paper Mills (Sarola) Map not to scale

Sites located at port areas may have been and Tamil Nadu are cases in point. disadvantageous in earlier times because of their Another significant change that disables the distance from the coalfields. Today however, the establishment of thermal and other manufacturing locational disadvantage has been nullified with units in certain areas have been brought about by the access to water transport, one of the relatively stringent contemporary environmental norms. It cheaper means of transport, being put to good is getting increasingly difficult to obtain requisite use. Newer, mostly private units find it cheaper to environmental clearances, particularly in already import coal, particularly if it is meant for power congested and polluted areas—many of which falls generation, which uses low-grade coal. Coastal near the coal mining areas. This negates the role of areas of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra locational advantages.

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 37 PersPectives on coal mining and environment By Staff RepoRteR There are different types of mining depending upon the techniques employed in the extraction of minerals. Each type has a bearing on varying environmental concerns related to biodiversity, air, water and land.

ining is the process or business of mineral deposits are removed. This method is extraction or removal of valuable ideal when the coal seams or mineral deposits are minerals, ores or other geological closer to the surface. materials from the earth. There are different types of mining environmental problems associated mdepending upon the techniques employed in the with surface mining extraction of minerals. Each type has a bearing Surface mining is highly destructive to the on varying environmental concerns related ecosystem, but it is preferred by most industries to biodiversity, air, water and land. It can be due to lower labour requirements and higher broadly classified into two—surface and under- yields, especially coal, as compared to underground mining. ground mining. ◆ destruction of landscape and biodiversity: surface mining Surface mining requires clearing of large It is a form of mining in which the surface soil forest areas and agricultural land. This leads to and rocks (termed as overburden) covering the various ecological disturbances such as reduc-

Strip mining is practiced for shallow, mostly horizontal deposits, usually extended over a considerable area. It is mostly associated with coal. The depth of mining may vary, but it is largely understood to be till about 60 m.

Highwall

Surface mining Three basic types Overburden •Strip mining •Quarry mining Coal Seam •Open pit mining Spoil

38 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue forest land in the region have been destroyed. As far as impacts of mining on biodiversity are concerned, about 11 per cent of the Singrauli Blocks of dimension stone coalfield overlaps the Sanjay Dubri National Park and the Guru Ghasidas National Park, which are important habitats for tigers, jeop- Aggregates of crushed rocks ardising their movement (Spandana, 2016). ◆ Barren land: The damaged and contaminated land left behind after mining, stays barren for a long period of time. The reclamation and rehabilitation processes of these lands are slow and cost intensive. ◆ disfiguring and contamination of water bodies: The eroded topsoil is washed out easily Quarry mining is where rocks or minerals are extracted for building by rains. The sediments not only disfigure materials. They are normally shallower than other kinds of open-pit mines. the river channels and streams, they lead to Some common kinds of rocks extracted from quarries are limestone, marble, gypsum and granite. deleterious alteration of the river ecosystem and subsequent downstream flooding. Acid mine drainage is another common threat from mining processes as sulphides are exposed to water and air. It alle- viates the pH of water bodies which devas- tates streams, rivers and various aquatic life forms for many years. The rate at which rivers in Jharkhand are degrading is a striking example of Overburden river pollution in India Coal seam/ore due to mining activi- Open pit mining involves the extraction of rocks ties. Research says or minerals from the earth by excavating a pit. The that about 130 million Bench height method is used for deposits that are deep or tilted litres of industrial or even vertical. The depth can go well below 60 Bench effluents and about 45 m. Open pit mining is associated with various Crater/pit bottom kinds of minerals. tonnes of fine coal from one coal washery are tion in forest cover, loss of wildlife habitat and discharged in the Damodar River every day. The erosion of the topsoil. The Coal Vision 2025 Karo River in West Singhbhum is also reported to by the Ministry of Coal, Government of India be highly polluted with red oxides from iron ore estimated that the requirement of forest land for mines of Naomundi, Gua and Chiria. Another mining would increase more than three-fold major river in this area, the Subernarekha is also from the current 22,000 ha to 73,000 ha since highly contaminated with heavy metals and toxic much of the coal resources to be exploited in radioactive wastes from TISCO, Jamshedpur, future are located in forests (Singh, 2008). The HCL Ghatsila and Uranium Corporation of India Korba coalfield in Chhattisgarh, for example, Limited at Jaduguda (Priyadarshini, 2017). has seen a tremendous change in land cover/ ◆ deterioration of air quality: Huge amount land use. According to the Amnesty Interna- of air pollutants—particulate matters, carbon tional Report 2016, more than 397 hectares of dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 39 and methane are produced from mining areas. 1 Surface mining is known to have a greater impact in polluting the air as it operates in the open and can spread over large areas. Dhanbad in Jharkhand is one such place where open cast mining has had serious impact on its air quality. In recent years, air pollutants such as oxides of sulphur and nitrogen, PM2.5, PM10 and trace metals like lead, arsenic and nickel have been observed in Dhanbad, which are much higher Front Vertical benching than India’s air quality standards (Kundu and benching Pal, 2015). Connecting drift Benching Coal pillar underground mining thicker parts Underground mining is undertaken when the ore of ore body or mineral resources are too deep to efficiently Room and pillar mining method which is also called as bord and pillar mine from the surface. It is a method of mining in is used in mining coal, iron and base metals like copper, aluminium, tin which overlying rocks are left untouched and the etc. Minerals are mined across a horizontal plane creating a network of rooms like structure and pillars to support the roof of the mine. It is widely required mineral deposits are removed through employed for mining flat-lying mineral deposits. shafts or tunnels. Two methods of underground mining are room and pillar and long wall. 2 how underground mining affects the Longwall shearer environment cuts coal face There are huge environmental impacts associated with underground mining. Unlike surface mining Pillars support roof its impact is mainly felt on land conformation as it requires deep drilling and removal of huge chunks of earth materials. ◆ land subsidence: It is the collapse of earth into underground mines. It occurs due to compres- sion and pressure change pertaining to excessive removal of water, oil or mineral resources from beneath the ground where the resources are Hydraulic roof located. It can cause structural damages to serv- supports ices and buildings, fracturing and altering the drainage pattern of groundwater from shallow aquifers. It also leads to surface water diversion, reducing water supply to streams and lakes etc. (IESC, 2014). ◆ underground coal fire: Coal seam burning aids air pollution by releasing smoke laden toxic gases. India is said to have world’s greatest Collapsed roof material concentration of coal fires (Greenpeace, 2016).

Longwall mining involves full extraction of coal or other minerals from their deposits using mechanical shearers. Self advancing, hydraulically- powered supports temporarily hold up the roof while the mineral is extracted. The roof is allowed to collapse after the mineral has been extracted. This technique is mainly used for coal mining.

40 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue Jharia coalfield which has been burning for minerals: Underground mining exposes huge more than a century is an explicit example. amount of earth materials and rocks. They Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) estimates possess a significant risk of contamination that about 37 million tonnes have been already from heavy metals and geologically derived burnt by coal seam fires since they overtook the toxic minerals to nearby ground and surface coal fields. Moreover, out of 80 identified fires water sources. only 10 have been successfully extinguished till date (Bavashi, 2017). endnote ◆ Coal mine methane: Coal mines release The environmental impacts caused by mining methane which is a potential green house gas. cannot be remediated immediately. However, About 6 per cent of methane emissions come mining locations should be carefully checked from coal mining (Greenpeace, 2016). and monitored. Moreover, sustainable mining ◆ impacts on water resources: Underground practices and novel technologies could reduce the mining also lowers the groundwater level around environmental repercussions caused by mining the mines since vast quantities of groundwater operations. The implementation of proper waste is pumped out in order to remove the coal from management strategies would decrease the rate of the mines. This affects water availability in the air, water and soil pollution from mining activi- vicinity of the mining area. ties. Most importantly, rehabilitation and effective ◆ exposure of geologically toxic elements and biological reclamation of mined areas can mini- mise the ecological impacts of mining.

references Battula, S. 2016. Impact of coal mining on tiger habitats in India. Available at: https://sites. tufts.edu/gis/files/2016/01/Battula_Span- dana_DHPP207_2016.pdf Bavashi, J. 2017. Jharia is burning: A case for environmental justice. The Indian Direction of Mining Economist, June 20. Available at: https:// theindianeconomist.com/jharia-burning- case-environmental-justice/ Coal Greenpeace International. 2016. Coal mining impacts. Available at: http://www.greenpeace. org/international/en/campaigns/climate- change/coal/Mining-impacts Independent Expert Scientific Committee. 2014. Fact Sheet- Subsistence from Longwall Coal Mining. Commonwealth of Australia. Available at: http://iesc.environment.gov. au/publications/subsidence-longwall-coal- mining Kundu, S. and Pal, A. K. 2015. Estimation of air quality in the opencast mine of Jharia Coalfield, India. Current World Environment, 10 (2): 691-697. Priyadarshini, N. 2017. Assessment of the health Conveyor Belt of Jharkhand Rivers: Pollution is the big threat. Environment and Geology. Available at: https://nitishpriyadarshi.blogspot.in/ Singh, G. 2008. Mitigating Environmental and Social Impacts of Coal Mining in India. Mining Engineer’s Journal: 8- 24.

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 41 PersPectives on coal

Ecolo gical rEstoration of coal minE dEgradEd lands By Subodh kumar maiti

Mining activities are responsible for adverse changes in land use pattern. Ecorestoration is, therefore, essential for bringing back the original characteristics of the land.

42 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue Ecological restoration is a recovery of an sad ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged Ra or destroyed—North Karanpura area (CCL),

Photo: P Photo: Ranchi district, Jharkhand.

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 43 he Society for Ecological Restoration countries. This high ash content is responsible (SER 2004) defines ecological resto- for generation of huge amounts of fly ash—a by ration as ‘the process of assisting product of combustion in thermal power plants. the recovery of an ecosystem that As high as 92 per cent of coal is mined by open has been degraded, damaged or cast method. As most of the coal deposits in India tdestroyed’. The process of natural succession, are locked under forest cover, a substantial amount which happens concurrently with ecosystem of coal production through surface mining development takes time. Several ecosystem involves the complete removal of vegetation, soil functions of mined land require a long time to cover and overlying waste rocks. This causes loss develop through natural processes. Therefore, it of forests and biodiversity, habitat fragmentation is indispensable to incorporate some ecosystem and deterioration ecosystem services, which management tools that can accelerate the recovery inherently damage and pollute the environment. of mine degraded land. Mine degraded sites are Massive degradation of land, complete change either reclaimed—returning a derelict site to some in land use, deterioration of aesthetics, severe air use or rehabilitated, creating conditions for a new pollution with marked increase in particulate and substantially different use of the mining site matter and dust, water pollution and siltation, or restored—recreating conditions suitable for are very common in coal mining areas. Increase previous use of area based on the end land-use in respirable particulate matter—RPM or PM10, of the sites. Generally, ecological restoration suspended particulate matter (SPM) and settable with forestry as end land-use is carried out in dust (dust fall) are thus of great concern. two stages: ■ Physical, technical or engineering restoration: It surface coal mining process and is a high cost, low risk restoration activity, but generation of mine waste dump constitutes over 60 to 90 per cent of the total cost To reach the coal seam, the overlying rocks above of restoration; and the uppermost coal seam and the inner-burden ■ Biological restoration: It is a low cost, high risk between the lower coal seams are removed in restoration work and requires multidisciplinary parallel strips (pits) across the coalfield until the inputs. area is mined. After being drilled and blasted, rocks covering the shallowest coal seam is Coal production and pollution removed using shovel-dumper combinations, A fossil fuel contributing to about 60 per cent of draglines and auxiliary excavating equipment. the energy mix in India, coal is a high demand Till mining reaches a desired depth, all the topsoil, commodity. India consumes 8 per cent of the total subsoil and overburden materials are dumped world’s coal, making it the third largest consumer outside—‘external dump’. Once these dumps are as well as the third-biggest greenhouse gas emitter. inactive, they are stabilised by topsoil blanketing. In terms of production, India ranked third Sometimes, they reach a height of 90-100 m from globally with 639.23 million tonnes in 2015-16 and the ground surface. 724.71 million tonnes projected for 2016-17, next As mining progresses and several rows of spoil to China and USA (Ministry of Coal, 2017). piles are created, grading of the piles begins, Coal mining in India started over 240 years ago using bulldozers to create a post-mining topog- around 1774 in the Raniganj coalfield. However, raphy commonly known as ‘back-filling’. The coal production was boosted only after nationali- reclamation activities include the regrading of sation of coal mines in 1972. India has 308.8 billion mine spoil—a term used for overburden mate- tonnes of coal reserves in seven states—Jharkhand rial removed during opencast mining. It creates (26 per cent), Odisha (25 per cent), Chhattisgarh a post-mining topography including restoring (18 per cent), West Bengal (10 per cent), Madhya drainage networks, replacing salvaged topsoil, Pradesh (8.7 per cent), and Maharashtra (3.7 per re-establishing vegetation cover and imple- cent) (Ministry of Coal, 2014). menting erosion-control measures. Development Indian coal is of Gondwana origin with low of forestry as post mining land use is relatively sulphur and high ash content ranging from 30 easier, compared to external dumps as regrading, to 50 per cent (Xia et al., 2016), compared to an redistribution of topsoil and run-off management ash content of 15-20 per cent found in developed are simpler.

44 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue It is indispensable to incorporate some ecosystem management tools that can accelerate the recovery of mine- degraded land.

A Characteristics of mine waste The properties of mine spoils are directly controlled by the physical and geochemical properties of the rock strata from which they are derived. Once the mine spoils are physically reclaimed and utilised to support plant growth (with or without topsoil), they are considered as minesoils. Minesoils are pedogenically young soils developed from the mixtures of fragmented and pulverized rock material—anthrosols. Minesoils developing on the surface mined lands are char- acterised by high rock fragments, ranging from 40-60 per cent, low water holding capacity, compacted surface (high bulk density) and low B infiltration rate compared to native soils. Use of heavy earth moving machinery (HEEM) during technical reclamation resulted in compact minesoils, which exhibit low porosity and poor aeration.

ecorestoration planning and implementation Before re-vegetation planning, types of vegetation cover have to be planned. This depends on characteristics of the plant, nature of minesoils, quality of available topsoil, proximity to the nearby seed sources or natural seed banks, climatic conditions (rainfall, temperature) and proneness to anthro- pogenic disturbance. It is necessary that a clear objective of restoration and final land use at the

a. al bizia and Butea known as siris and Bastard teak - hold water and increase soil organic carbon—damoda project, Jharia Coalfields, dhanbad, Jharkhand. B. dry mulches are used to conserve moisture—North Karanpura area (CCL), Ranchi, Jharkhand. C. Leucaena leucocephala, or subabul or River tamarind is known to have an aggressive tap root system helping moisture penetration C into the soil—Rohini open cast project, NK area, Ranchi, Jharkhand.

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 45 end of mining operation is clearly defined by mine Protection of remaining patches of the original authority along with the consultation of regula- vegetation should be encouraged so as to tors and local bodies. The restoration planning increase seed propagation and regeneration of should be considered at an early stage of inception native species. of project. Ecorestoration planning should have ◆ top soil management: addition of topsoil is the following basic steps: vital component to establish a self-sustaining ◆ involvement of local community: mining is a cover during restoration process. It must be temporary activity and as temporary occupiers preserved wherever possible and its quality of the land, the coal companies should aim for should be protected during moving and storage. redevelopment of better post-mining land use by Important aspects of topsoil management considering needs of the local communities. include—inventory and removal of topsoil, ◆ removal and preservation of flora by devel- concurrent reuse and storage of topsoil (if oping a flora bank: this essentially consists required) including preservation of topsoil of transplantation of native/valuable species fertility by vegetating grass-legume mixture. and their documentation (local and scientific ◆ technical aspects: the overall slope of the dump name, density, tree diameter at breast height, surface should not exceed 28o. To reduce the aerial height, crown cover, category of species, slope length, it is recommended that the height economic and medicinal values). The informa- of the dump should be kept within 30 m with tion must be displayed on a documentation 10 m benching. A drainage system needs to be board indicating importance of preservation. designed to control erosion and provide garland Before transplantation, it is to be ensured that drains surrounding the dump. Scraped topsoil soil is properly moistened to ease transplan- needs to be applied over the regraded surface tations and the places for transplantation (30-50 cm). Use of mulches is recommended to in newly restored sites are carefully chosen. reduce surface compaction and overall amel-

Fig: 1: Development of 5-tier canopy in mine dumps, as an aid to ecorestoration

Desired MPT 100 Ecological restoration of mine-degraded sites involves natural succession of plants to ultimately lead to re-establishment of forests.

Fast growing trees

Leguminous shrubs 50

Climbers (Lianas) Ground cover (per cent)

25 Grasses and herbceous legumes

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Disturbance Time (years) Source: Ahirwal et al., 2016

46 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue ioration of site conditions. Where little or no degraded ecosystem through a ecological resto- topsoil exists prior to mining, it may be neces- ration approach. There is a close relationship sary to amend or import soils depending on the between ecological understanding and successful final land use and site conditions. ecorestoration. Technical aspects of restoration ◆ revegetation planning: a key element of are the keys of ecological restoration of minesoils, successful restoration projects is the establish- which should be carried out in an orderly manner. ment of a succession based vegetation cover This may be aimed at producing better land use through plantation and application of grasses and productivity prior to mining, re-grading and and legume seed mixtures. Tree species recom- blanketing backfilled areas with soil. Salvaging and mended for afforestation of coal mine dumps reusing topsoil carefully, designing appropriate are khair (Acacia catechu), siris (Albizia lebbeck, control erosion measures to enhance stability of A. procera), margosa (Azadirachta indica), and dumps are other ways. Minimising disturbance shisham (Dalbergia sissoo), to name a few. to the surface and groundwater, conserving Nowadays hydroseeding technique is used for fast floral patches and using seeds for regeneration of and efficient application of seed mixture on slopes. biodiversity, constructing/searching out water Tillers of khus grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides) sources during extreme summer, monitoring the and citronella grass (Cymbopogon citrates) are also progress of ecosystem recovery, and post-caring commonly used in slope and barrier constructed at of sites can also be experimented with. All these the periphery of dumps, known as berm. processes must be integrated with ecological The revegetation planning should mimic engineering aimed at vegetation establishment surrounding non disturbed forest area or and ecosystem creation in order to optimise land encourage specific ecosystem establishment, productivity and soil fertility. Consultation with incorporating strengths of both native and local people must be a part of all effective decision- non-native species. But unfortunately, in many making processes. Finally, the development of the instances dumps mine degraded lands are science of restoration should go hand in hand with reclaimed by planting fast growing exotic tree achievements of successful restoration itself. species, without proper technical reclamation or even without soil in plantation pits. references Currently, grass-legume mixture (Stylosanthes Ahirwal, J., Maiti, S.K., and Singh, A. K. 2016. hamata) are seeded as pioneer species on the Ecological restoration of coalmine degraded barren dumps to enhance soil fertility before lands in dry tropical climate: What has been plantation of tree species. In many instances, dry done and what does it needs? Environmental mulches are also used to conserve moisture and Quality Management, 26 (1):25-36 provide substrate for ecosystem redevelopment. Ministry of Coal. 2014. Coal Reserves. Govern- ◆ integration of ecological succession: this ment of India. Available at: http://www.coal. approach promotes development of native nic.in/content/coal-reserves plant species—initially planted species will Ministry of Coal. 2017. Annual report 2016-17. ameliorate dump surface and promote colo- Government of India. Available at: http:// nisation of native species. It is considered to www.coal.nic.in/sites/upload_files/coal/files/ be the bridge between initial colonisers and coalupload/chap1AnnualReport1617en.pdf later developing vegetation (Fig. 1). Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) 2004. Available at: www.ser.org endnote Xia, Y.K., Li, G.M. and Cui, Z.F. 2016. Dry Ideally, one would like to have some statistics as Cleaning, an Affordable Separation Process to how many mines have been restored so far. for Deshaling Indian High Ash Thermal However, there is no reliable information available Coal. XVIII International Coal Preparation in this regard, apart from some accounts of trees Congress: 1119-1124 that are being planted. Mining companies are now realising that recla- The author is a Professor at the Centre of Mining mation by simple plantation of fast-growing trees Environment Department of Environmental Science are not going to restore a degraded ecosystem. & Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), There should be a paradigm shift to restore a Dhanbad, Jharkhand. [email protected]

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 47 Fueling transport

Petroleum products are routinely transported by ships to distant locations to help develop the economy—Port Blair harbour, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

48 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue By D GopalkrIsHna MurtI Petroleum Pricing in india How petroleum prices are regulated in India depends upon an understanding of how the oil industry works. End-users often correlate crude oil price vis-à-vis price of petrol and

AsAd wonder at the discrepancies ignoring the intermediate

Photo: Pr Photo: stages between the two.

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 49 Basics of petroleum production in turn make the production expensive. Therefore, Does a barrel of crude oil yield a barrel of gasoline? continuous investments in locating new hydro- We, as end-users, tend to correlate the price of crude carbon reservoirs are necessary. This is also true for oil with the price of gasoline alone and wonder why all mineral resources found on earth. the government is not reducing the price of gasoline when international crude pricing is at a historic low. historical crude oil pricing A familiarity with the international measuring Crude oils can essentially be divided into three unit and the Indian unit is needed to have a better types for pricing purposes: understanding of pricing. Barrel is an international ◆ Light and sweet—giving the best yield of high unit for trading in crude oil by volume. In earlier value products like gasoline and LPG; times, crude oil was packed and transported in ◆ Heavy crudes, which have more of heavier barrels or drums. An oil barrel consists of 42 US components like bitumen and asphalt, and gallons—42 x 3.785418, or 158.987 litres. In India, ◆ Sour crudes having higher component of we generally use cubic meters —one cubic meter sulphur. The last two varieties require additional would be roughly 6.25 barrels. processing. Sour crudes with high sulphur Similarly, the international unit for the refining component are harsh on the refinery equipment capacity is barrels per day (BPD), while in India, in terms of service life due to corrosion issues. we use metric tonne per year (MTY). One MTY Crude oil pricing corresponds to its quality—light represents approximately 20,000 BPD of refining and sweet crudes commanding the maximum capacity, assuming an average crude specific premium. On an average, a sour crude could be gravity of 0.861. BPD is the more scientifically cheaper by 4 to 6 USD per barrel than a lighter accepted unit. crude. However, the benefits of lower initial pricing A typical yield from crude oil (Fig. 1) shows a of sour crude is lost in higher processing costs large variation in yield of various petroleum prod- requiring strict environmental emission controls. ucts depending on the sources of crude oil. Some Figure 2A shows historical crude oil prices for crude oils (known as light crude oils) produce large a typical crude oil (West Texas Intermediate) for amounts of gasoline while heavier crudes tend to which data are readily available since 1946. These produce more of heavier products like asphalt and data are updated on hourly basis and available at bitumen. Since the 1970s, technologies are in place www.macrotrends.net. Figure 2A also shows crude to crack heavy crude oils to produce lighter compo- oil price adjusted to inflation and the recession nents through refinery processes. Some of the periods. It is seen that the crude oil prices gener- secondary units such as cracking unit reformers are ally fluctuate with inflation; or perhaps vice versa. comparatively recent (1970s) developments. These Figure 2B is interesting. It shows how many barrels units improve the yield of high-value products and of crude oil we could buy with an ounce of gold at a add to refinery profit margins. given time. It should give us some consolation that It is essential that crude oil producers get a fair in the year 1946, we could buy 30 barrels of crude price and the end-users pay a fair price as well. oil with an ounce of gold and now in 2017 we can Crude oil exploration and development are capital buy around 27.5 barrels. Not a big change—it is a intensive projects. Companies may spend billions less than 10 per cent increase in price in the last 70 of dollars only to find that the oil reserves are years vis-à-vis gold price. not enough for commercial production. This is despite tremendous developments in exploration price Components for gasoline reaching the technologies. Such investments go waste and oil Motorists companies need to account for such losses. As the So far, we talked about crude oil prices. Let us see hydrocarbon reservoirs grow old, the pressures and how it affects gasoline pricing, the most popular flow rates diminish and water production increases. petroleum product, but the most vulnerable too. A well which starts production with 90 per cent of Figure 3 explains the basics of pricing components oil and 10 per cent of water may end up in reverse added to gasoline by the time it reaches the motor- with 10 per cent oil and 90 per cent water before it is ists. Multiple pricing components are involved shut for good. To retain the oil wells’ productivity, and an attempt is made to show the latest pricing enhanced oil recovery methods are needed, which wherever available. It can be seen that seven to

50 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue Fig. 1: Typical Yield from Crude Oil (% Range) eight components are involved in gasoline pricing. The price typically triples by the time crude oil is 2 per cent to 3 per cent Asphalt converted to a finished product for the end-user. 1 per cent to 2 per Refinery gases 2 per cent to 4 per LPG From the cost break-down, it is clear that the 5 per cent to 10 per Jet fuel refinery processing fees are meagre. /Kerosene 5 per cent to 18 per cent other products price subsidies in india Fossil fuel subsidies were 5 trillion USD in 2015 12 per cent to 24 per cent Diesel according to the International Monetary Fund. fuel and heating oil Unfortunately, the world’s largest energy subsi- disers are also the largest energy consumers, led by China and the United States, which together accounted for a 3 trillion USD subsidy in 2015, 20 per cent to 45 per cent Gasoline followed by India, the European Union, Russia and Japan. The Indian government historically subsidised petroleum prices from 1947 till June 2010 with the Yield of various petroleum products depends upon the sources of objective of protecting consumers from interna- crude oil. Gasoline yields range from 20 to 45 per cent when the tional price volatility and providing energy access crude oil is of light variety. for its citizens, especially the poor. However, energy subsidies placed a heavy burden on government Fig. 2A: Crude oil prices : 1950-2016 budgets, while often failing to reach their targeted $ 160 Recession periods Crude oil price - inflation adjusted beneficiaries. The subsidies were within reason- $ 140 Crude oil price - Net able limits when the crude prices were low, say up $ 120 to 20 USD per barrel. Although the price went up seven times to 140 USD per barrel, we never saw $ 100 a proportionate price jump in gasoline pricing. It $ 80 was because the government and the oil companies USD/Barel $ 60 absorbed the heavy losses. From June 2010, petrol $ 40 prices were freed from government control and $ 20 diesel pricing was freed in October 2014. Out of major petroleum products consumed 1946 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2017 by general public, only LPG and kerosene are Inflation and prices of crude oil are interconnected and fluctuate in controlled and subsidised by the government. All agreement with each other. other petroleum products’ prices are linked to Source: Data by Macrotrends.net crude oil pricing in the international markets. From Fig. 2B: Gold price to crude oil price June 16, 2017, the government allowed gasoline and Recession periods diesel prices to fluctuate daily instead of the earlier 45 practice of once every fortnight across the country 40 (Hindustan Times, June 16, 2017). This has been 35 done to enable oil companies to align domestic rates more closely with global pricing. The daily changes 30 25 would eliminate irregularities arising from the Ratio speculative inventory management by petrol pump 20 dealers on the expectations of price revisions. The 15 consumer will benefit too as variations will be 10 limited to a few paise, softening the blow that came with steeper current fortnightly adjustments. The 1946 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2017 daily revision should prove as win-win situation Over the years, the ratio between barrels of oil one could buy for producers and consumers both. Incidentally, with one ounce of gold has not changed much. the daily adjustment model is followed in several Source: Data by Macrotrends.net

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 51 countries in Europe and in North America. to a large extent. This is similar to how we export Figure 4 shows India’s crude oil production high-quality Basmati rice and import lower quality and consumption since 1965. The gap between rice to feed the masses. Exporting finished products production and consumption is filled by imports. makes sense as India currently has excess refining It is seen that the import of crude oil is continu- capacity. The current refining capacity is 232 MTY ously rising. In mid 1960s, India produced one while the demand was 194.2 MTY in the fiscal year third of its net consumption and now the ratio 2016-17. The domestic oil demand is projected to is less than one fifth. The gap between consump- climb to 500 MTY by 2040. The government is, tion and indigenous production is widening and therefore, carrying out refinery expansions and is an alarming situation. Imagine the situation building new refineries. in 2050? With ever increasing population, the net availability of petroleum products per capita price control and consumption would be minimal. For example Kuwait with The Indian government controls the prices by an an indigenous population of 1 million citizens indirect method of tinkering with excise duties, produces 2.5 million barrels a day of crude oil. In special duties and the educational cess on petroleum comparison, India with a population of 1.2 billion products. This is basically an exercise to generate produces 800,000 barrels a day. The per capita revenues, to control the petroleum consumption crude production in Kuwait is 2.5 barrels a day, and to control the fiscal deficit. Similar action is it is 0.000667 barrel a day in India which is 3,750 taken by the state governments by regulating the times lower than Kuwait. India’s meagre crude oil value added tax VAT. reserves (5.7 thousand million barrels) is just 0.3 The answer to the widely asked question, why per cent of world reserves (BP Statistical Review government does not lower the gasoline prices of World Energy report, June 2016), while we have while crude is selling at historically low prices, can 17.9 per cent of world population. be best answered by the following: let us assume The country exported petroleum products you have inherited a big loan and you recently got worth 27.7 billion USD in 2016, about 10.6 per cent a huge bonus at your workplace. Would you want of total exports (Workman, 2017). Although the to spend all of the bonus immediately or use part country is hugely dependent on oil imports, export of the bonus to pay some of the loan? Would you of oil-based products has supported the economy not consider it prudent to pay a part of the loan in

Fig. 3: India 1965-2015 production versus consumption

4,000 200 Net oil consumption Oil imports 3,600 Oil production 180

3,200 160 One can witness a progressively increasing 2,800 import of crude oil over the period to meet the 140 country’s consumption whereas oil production 2,800 has remained almost constant. 120

2,000 100

1,600 80 Crude oil - Thousands barrels /day Cruide oil - Million tonnes/year 1,200 60

800 40

400 20

0 0 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2016.

52 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue good times so that you will have the flexibility to take more loans during adverse times? This is what the government is doing now. Seven to eight Government had huge past debts due to unreal- components are istic fuel subsidies. Now that the oil prices are low, it is time to pay a part of that debt. Playing with the involved in the duties and taxes is useful for multiple reasons which production of gasoline are as follows: ◆ The increase in taxes on petroleum products acts which has a bearing as a safety valve and provides a cushion. The effect of this is that it becomes a transfer from the state upon its pricing. treasuries of the oil producers to the treasury of India. When the oil prices increase again, the government can first cut the excise duty prior producing bigger and bigger monster vehicles to increasing the price at the pump. This is what that messed up the environment even more. the government did in the previous years of price In contrast, the Scandinavian countries have increases. the most expensive gas throughout resulting ◆ If the international crude oil prices go up too fast, in the most energy efficient and least polluted the pricing in India cannot be controlled by a cut vehicular environs. in the taxes to relieve the consumers. In such a ◆ And it is not just India that is increasing the fuel scenario, the government can bring back some of taxes. Many other smart countries are doing the subsidies. To have that option open, it has to the same too. Australia did the same a couple keep its current deficit much lower. of months ago. The US is mulling over the ◆ The government does not want the people to get same now. really wasteful in using petroleum products. There are some aspects of the policy that are People tend to abuse things when it is cheap. At specific to India. The country spends around 23 the end of the day, cheap oil causes excess pollu- billion USD a year on subsidising the use of petrol tion. In the 80s and 90s when oil prices were and diesel (Worstall, 2014). Subsidisation is not a down, Americans went on for a car buying spree, sensible use of tax expenditures at all. It is most

Kochi LNG is a liquefied natural gas regasifi- cation terminal in Puthuvype, Kochi, India.

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 53 Fig. 4: Price components of gasoline in India

Crude oil Prices Ocean (Indian basket) freights and INR 19.46/litre on June 7, 2017. transport charges

Price to consumers INR 63.55/litre on June 26, 2017 at New Delhi

Plus dealers’ commission INR 2.58/litre

certainly not pro-poor. For example, in India the leum products under the GST regime. However, it real poor have no or very little access to mechani- is not expected to bring any radical change to the sation of any kind. Therefore, the cheap fuel does final selling price of petrol at petrol-pump outlets. not benefit them. It all ends up being a subsidy Overall pricing will continue to be governed by the to the middle and upper classes and they are rich criteria discussed earlier. enough to be part of an unsubsidised mechanised The government may collect the GST as a specific economy. percentage of the base price and distribute the The average retail sale price of gasoline around tax proceeds internally to the parties at stake. For the world is approximately 1.02 USD/litre. The example, the cost components of stage 1, 2, 3 and Indian retail price is equivalent to 1.05 USD/litre 4 may be clubbed as the base price, whereas tax/ as on July 10, 2017 (globalpetrolprices.com). It can overhead components at stage 5, 6 and 7 may be thus be seen that Indian pricing is fairly close to clubbed as GST (Fig. 4). international pricing. There could be other ways of calculations. It may, however, be concluded that the overall gst imposition pricing to the consumer will not alter and stay As of July 1, 2017, the Indian government replaced at par with the prevailing international pricing. various levels of taxation and duties to a single As discussed earlier, the government may absorb entity, i.e. Goods and Services Tax popularly part of a steep hike if crude oil prices shoot known as GST. The idea is to bring price uniformity abnormally high, say above 100 USD/barrel. and simplify tax collection across India. The Likewise, the government may keep part of the petroleum products are out of this regime at the windfall if the crude prices crash further. It moment and continue with the existing pricing would be of interest to watch the tax mechanism structure. if the government decides to keep the GST, as it Eventually, the government may bring petro- is, under such differing scenarios.

54 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue Refinery processing fee, price paid by oil marketing companies (OMC) to refineries Price charged to dealers added margins and other expenses of OMC

There are several stages at which fees, freight rates and taxes are added eventually deciding the petrol prices that the consumers pay.

Central State excise specific plus custom duty value added tax added. INR 14.28/litre INR 22.70/litre plus 3 per cent education cess

Source: Data from: Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell, Govt. of India, Graphic by: Author endnote trends. Available at: http://www.macrotrends. The difference between crude oil prices and gaso- net/1380/gold-to-oil-ratio-historical-chart line is because of in-between stages of processing. Petrol and diesel prices to change daily from June Added to it are multiple pricing components. With 16, dealers upset. 2017. Hindustan Times, June 16. the exception of LPG and kerosene, all other petro- Available at: http://www.hindustantimes.com/ leum products prices in India are linked to crude oil business-news/daily-change-in-petrol-and-diesel pricing in the international markets. Moreover, the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell, Government relatively higher pricing of petrol in India, despite of India. Available at: http://www.ppac.org.in/ subsidies, is due to its various components of tax content/149_1_PricesPetroleum.aspx structure. In any case, cross-subsidisation is not a The American Petroleum Institute, Washington pro-poor strategy as the benefits largely accrue to D.C. Available at: http://www.api.org/ better off sections of the society. Workman, D. 2017. India’s top 10 exports. World’s Top Exports, 12 April. Available at: http://www. references worldstopexports.com/indias-top-10-exports/ BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 65th Worstall, T. 2014. India’s Modi does exactly the Edition. June, 2016. BPstats. U.K. Available right thing by raising gas taxes as oil falls in at: http://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/pdf/ price. Economics and Finance, Forbes. Nov. energy-economics/statistical-review-2016/ 13. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ bp-statistical-review-of-world-energy-2016- timworstall/2014/11/13/ full-report.pdf http://www.globalpetrolprices.com/gaso- Crude Oil Prices- 70 Years Historical Chart. 2017. line_prices/ Macrotrends. Available at: http://www.macrotrends.net/1369/crude-oil-price-history-chart Author is an independent Senior Consultant working for Gold to Oil Ratio- Historical Chart. 2017. Macro- the oil & gas industry. [email protected]

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 55 Fueling transport

Second generation biofuels are produced from non food crops which include special energy biomass crops such as switchgrass.

56 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue Biofuels By D K Tuli foR emission Reduction

Transport fuels are one of the major contributors to green house gas emissions. Despite several alternatives, transportation is still dependant on fossil fuel sources such as petroleum. Biofuels, by partially replacing

Sad petroleum, can bring down emissions. Photo: Pra Photo:

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 57 ransport fuels are one of the major produce biodiesel from soyabean, palm and animal contributors to carbon dioxide emis- fat and blend it with diesel. As first-generation sions. The other major contributor is biofuels may have limited impact not to mention coal based power generation. Several their competition with food sources, second alternatives like solar, wind, hydro generation biofuels are being researched world andt nuclear power are being promoted to bring over to overcome common concerns. Moreover, down the share of coal-based power in overall the reduction of overall green house gases by first energy mix. However, this solution is primarily generation biofuels is lower as these are specially for static power such as electricity. Transportation grown as feedstock and there are several inputs like is still predominantly dependent on liquid fuels fertilisers, water and pesticides required for their which are derived from fossil petroleum sources. growth. Therefore, alternate cleaner liquid fuels are essen- None of the biofuels are totally carbon neutral as tially required to partially replace the petroleum some energy is spent in producing the feed stock transport fuels to bring down their toxic emissions. and then on the conversion process. Biofuels, derived from renewable bioresources, are Corn based ethanol reduces emissions only to one such option. These fuels are sustainable as the the extent of 25 per cent as compared to petrol. feedstock, which is of bio origin, grows regularly This lower reduction in emissions is a result of high and is to a large extent carbon neutral as these need energy required to produce corn; all agricultural carbon dioxide and sunlight to grow via the process inputs such as fertilisers, water, pesticides are of photosynthesis. required for corn cultivation and these processes, combined together, give some emissions. Ethanol First generation biofuels from sugarcane is a little better in reducing emis- Biofuels are graded as per generation depending sions. However, second generation ethanol, from upon their development cycle. First generation agricultural wastes like corn stover, rice and wheat biofuels are products made from sugar, starch, straw is able to reduce emissions to an extent of vegetable oil or animal fat using conventional tech- 70-85 per cent as compared to petrol. These are nologies—seeds from vegetable oils, both edible or agricultural wastes, therefore the energy to grow non-edible, which are chemically triglyceride and these is not counted. can be easily converted by the process of trans- The wide range in reduction of emission is thus esterification to give biodiesel. Similarly, ethanol due to different technologies applied for production obtained from fermentation of sugarcane juice or of ethanol from these waste materials. The way to molasses is also a first generation biofuel. Ethanol derive at emission reduction capacity of a biofuel is obtained by hydrolysis and fermentation of corn is to conduct a complete Life Cycle Analysis (Muñoz, also considered as a part of first generation biofuels. et al., 2014; Roy, 2014; Gopal and Kammen, 2009). However, since most of the first generation biofuels are derived from agricultural crops, hence second generation biofuels they have been criticised for diverting food into It is widely thought that second generation biofuels fuel. Additionally, the combination of first genera- can supply larger proportion of alternate fuels in a tion biofuels can provide only a limited amount sustainable, affordable and in an environmentally of ethanol and biodiesel for blending into petrol safer manner as very large amount of feedstock is and diesel respectively. Several estimates have available. These also do not compete directly with put a combined contribution of first generation food sources. biofuels to transport fuels to the extent of 10 to 15 Second generation biofuels are produced from per cent. However, having said so, the technologies non food crops which include waste biomass— for manufacturing of ethanol from grains and wheat straw, corn stover, wood or from special molasses, biodiesel from vegetable oils/fats and energy biomass crops such as switchgrass. All their use as a component of transport fuel is well these materials are chemically classified as Ligno- established. cellulosic materials. Producing ethanol from USA and Brazil are two major countries which lignocellulosic material is a little more difficult than use ethanol to blend with petrol on a very large scale. from starchy materials like grains or sugars. This While USA produces ethanol from corn, Brazil is because the cellulose and hemicellulose which sources it from sugarcane. European countries can be converted to ethanol are well protected and

58 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue locked by lignin in the plants. Freeing of the sugar molecules from lignocellulosic material involves an additional step of pretreatment. This step separates Alternate cleaner liquid lignin by breaking the bonds between lignin and fuels are required to cellulose and can be done by physical means like steam explosion or by chemical means of acid/base replace the petroleum hydrolysis or by enzymes treatment. The second transport fuels, even step involved is to de-polymerise cellulose and hemicellulose into non-numeric 6 or 5 member if partially, to bring sugars. Thereafter, fermentation by special bacteria down green house gas leads to fermentation and production of ethanol. The technological challenges include low energy emissions. pre-treatment, selection of proper enzymes for depolymerisation of cellulose and hemicellulose and finally microbes for fermentation of 5 member Therefore, the government has decided to support sugar molecules to ethanol. the production of second generation ethanol from In US, Canada and Europe, huge efforts have non food, non fodder agricultural wastes. been put up by research laboratories and compa- India has planned to set up six to eight very nies to perfect this technology. Several American large lignocellulosic ethanol plants (400 tonnes and European Universities have also contributed of biomass/day) in the country in next three to the understanding of this technology. In India, years. Few of these plants are being set up by oil there are several groups who are working on devel- marketing companies—Indian Oil Corporation, oping this technology. Among these the notable is Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Bioenergy Research Centre of the Department of Petroleum Corporation, using indigenously Biotechnology-Institute of Chemical Technology developed technology. It may be mentioned here (DBT-ICT) at Mumbai. This group developed a that as the technology is still under developed, the unique technology in which enzymes are recycled, cellulosic ethanol produced will be about 10-30 per resulting in lowering of cost and huge reduction cent higher in cost as compared to ethanol from in process time. They demonstrated the tech- sugarcane molasses. However, economies of scale nology at 4 tonnes/day pilot plant at India Glycol will result with further development and this price Limited, Kashipur and later scaled it upto 10 gap will be reduced. tonnes/day. Among the feedstock tested were rice A noteworthy fact about lignocellulosic ethanol straw, sugarcane bagasse and cotton stalk. Praj is its very high impact on green house gas emis- Industries Limited at Pune also demonstrated sions. This is due to the fact that the feedstock is this technology at 12 tonnes/day pilot plant using a byproduct of the main food crop. Depending acid based pretreatment. The DBT-IOC Centre for upon the technology configuration, lignocellulosic Advanced Bioenergy Research developed a tech- ethanol has shown 65-80 per cent reduction in nology package at 0.25 tonnes/day pilot and also GHG emissions as compared to petrol. used indigenously generated enzymes to produce ethanol from rice straw and sugarcane bagasse in Thermo-chemical methods to produce higher concentrations. Presently the Centre is in biofuels from biomass the process of setting up a 10 tonnes/day plant in Conversion of vegetable oil by the hydro treating Mathura. process to produce green diesel is also classi- The Indian government has adopted a national fied as second generation biofuel. This process biofuel policy which mandates upto 20 per cent straight away gives green diesel which is much addition of biofuels in the transport fuels, mainly more stable than bio-diesel obtained from the petrol and diesel. It has also recognised that the trans-esterification process. This process is likely existing source of ethanol—sugarcane molasses will to replace all current trans-esterification processes not be able to meet more that 10 per cent of blending and will be the process of choice when large avail- in petrol. The maximum blending of ethanol in ability of vegetable oil is made possible. Indian Oil petrol achieved in 2015-16 was approximately 4 per Corporation’s Research and Development wing cent (Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, 2016). has undertaken pilot plant studies and is currently

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 59 working to further scale up this process. Laboratory and Universities of Birmingham, Though the process for production of biodiesel Michigan and Cambridge have large groups is well established using any edible or non edible working on this technology. In India, Indian Oil vegetable oils, but availability of feedstock is very Corporation’s Research and Development wing, limited. Unlike Europe and USA which have Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Indian surplus soybean and rapeseed oil, India is the Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad and largest importer of vegetable oils. Earlier attempts a group from The Energy and Research Institute were made to grow non edible oil seeds like (TERI) are active in this area. Jatropha and Karanjia in marginal unirrigated land without much care. However, the very low endnote seed yield put a question mark on the use of these Biofuels are required to be blended in fossil based oils on a large scale. transport fuels to lower the environmental emission impacts and also for sustainability. First Biomass to liquids and biomass to syn- generation biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel are thesis gas already commercial but the quantities available are Biomass to liquids (BTL) and biomass to synthesis limited. Furthermore, as a national policy, India gas—followed by Fischer-Tropsch, known as FT to needs to produce biofuels from feedstock which do diesel are also second generation biofuel processes. not compete with food or fodder. Pyrolysis of biomass gives synthesis gas which can Second generation biofuels can make a definite then be converted by the FT process to diesel. Shell contribution to the transport fuel pool and this area technologies have developed a novel process where is currently under sharp focus of research laborato- biomass can be directly converted to fungible fuels ries and industry. Globally several large scale plants such as diesel. have been set up mainly in USA, Brazil and Europe. India has also made significant advances and has Third generation biofuels developed indigenous technology for production of Algal materials are being researched as source of biomass based biofuels. However, there still remains lipids which can be easily converted to biodiesel. a large requirement for research and development The interest in algae is due to the fact that algal inputs to make these processes cost effective. production per unit area is 10 times more than biodiesel production from seeds. Another advan- references tage of algal growth is the sequestration of carbon Gopal, A. and Kammen, D. 2009. Molasses for dioxide which is required for its growth. There ethanol: the economic and environmental are several US and European companies who are impacts of a new pathway for the lifecycle offering technologies for algal biofuels. The Depart- greenhouse gas analysis of sugarcane ethanol. ment of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of Environmental Research Letters. 4 (044005): 5. India has an algal task force for screening of high Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. 27 April, yielding algal strains. Some groups are working on 2016. Press Information Bureau, Government Of production of methane by fermentation of algal India. Available at: pib.nic.in/newsite/mbErel. material. DBT Centre of Bioenergy Research at the aspx?relid=142357. Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai; Muñoz, I., Flury, K., Jungbluth, N., Rigarlsford, G., International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Canals, L. M. I. and King, H. 2014. Life cycle Biotechnology (ICGEB), Delhi and Indian Oil assessment of bio-based ethanol produced from Corporation (IOC, Research and Development), different agricultural feedstocks. heT Interna- Faridabad are amongst several institutes in India tional Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. 19(1): 109. working on development of algal technology. Roy, P. 2014. Life Cycle Assessment of Ethanol Biohydrogen is considered as the third generation produced from Lignocellulosic Biomass: biofuels technology. Dark fermentation of sugar Techno-economic and Environmental Evalua- containing materials, aided by microbes or by tion. PhD thesis, University of Guelph, Canada. algae, produces hydrogen by biosplitting of water. This area is actively being researched for produc- Author is DBT Energy Bio-Sciences Chair, DBT-IOC tion of hydrogen from biowaste and lignocellulosic Bio-Energy Research Centre, Indian Oil Corporation material. The US National Renewable Energy Limited (R&D), Faridabad. [email protected]

60 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue

Development alternatives

Natural Gas Hydrate- a Future source oF eNerGy By Jitendra S Sangwai

Arctic Ocean Former Soviet Union Canada Europe China Japan United States Middle East North Africa Other East Asia Western and India Other Pacific Central Africa Eastern Africa Asia Latin America and Other Oceania South Asia the Caribbean Southern Southern Africa Ocean

Energy is indispensable and its demand is growing manifold each day. With fossil fuels being finite in nature, alternative energy sources need to be explored. Natural gas hydrate offers a promising source due to its vast occurrence across the world.

62 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue ROSUB 6000–deployment of a remotely operated underwater vehicle d

ASA (ROV) by National Institute of Ocean R P : Technology, Chennai, for deep sea TO O

Ph mineral exploration (Pic. 1).

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 63 he demand for energy worldwide based natural gas company, found out hydrates is increasing day by day. On the blocking up the natural gas pipelines in winters. contrary, conventional energy These gas hydrates were found to be culprits for reserves are depleting at an alarming challenging the flow assurance of oil and gas rate. This situation mandates from the subsea pipelines in upstream oil and gas tunconventional and renewable sources of energy. industry. Though renewable energy resources are gaining In 1981, Makogon (1981) estimated the vast importance, these resources will need augmenta- amount of hydrate reserves present around the tion. world and paved the way for further research to In recent years, the role of natural gas is produce gas from these reserves. Subsequently, increasing in the energy market due to its envi- huge amount of hydrate reserves were found ronment-benign nature over the conventional on ocean beds and permafrost regions. This is crude oil and coal. Various natural gas resources because the ocean depth provides required high are being explored which include shale gas, coal pressure conditions along with low temperatures bed methane and gas hydrates. Among these suitable for hydrate formation. Exploration of resources, gas hydrates stand at the top as they gas hydrate and polymetallic nodule on deep sea occur widely (Makogon et al., 2007). beds are thus areas of active research in the global The secrets of water never cease to astonish scientific community (Pic. 1 and 2). Also, in the researchers. Water is a universal solvent, and permafrost regions, lower temperatures are suffi- scientists unravelled how water in contact with cient to form hydrate at atmospheric conditions. certain gas molecules at a very high pressure and Contingent upon the temperature and pres- low temperature, can form cage like structures sure, these natural gas hydrates happen at depths which trap gas molecules forming a solid ice like ranging from 130 m to 2000 m beneath the compound. These were named clathrate hydrates ground at permafrost, while it is from 800 m to or gas hydrates (Sloan and Koh, 2007). 3000 m underneath the seabed in offshore conti- Most low molecular weight gases such as nental margins. Studies have estimated that USA hydrogen, nitrogen, methane, carbon dioxide, has 3,200 to 19,000 trillion m3 of hydrate reserves and hydrogen sulphide can be trapped to form (Moridis, et al., 2011). gas hydrate under varying pressure and temperature conditions. Natural gases such as methane, hydrate prospects in india when trapped in the hydrate cages, are referred India is expected to have about 1900 trillion m3 to as natural gas hydrates or methane hydrates of hydrate reserves which is estimated to be 1500 (Fig. 1). These natural gas hydrates can be dissoci- times the known natural gas reserves (Sain et. ated, releasing methane. al., 2012). These reserves have been confirmed in Each cage of the hydrate accepts gas molecules the Kerala-Konkan basin, the Krishna-Godavari of a particular size. Three main types of hydrate basin, the Mahanadi basin and offshore Andaman- structures are known so far. These are structures Nicobar Islands. These indicate a potential energy I, II and sH. Each hydrate system derives its name resource for India and offers a viable solution to by the type of gas present in the cage. Natural gas meet the energy demand of India. hydrates, if dissociated can produce 163 m3 of gas/ In view of this, the Indian government has m3 of solid hydrate, providing significant amount started the National Gas Hydrate Programme of energy in the form of methane gas (Sloan and (NGHP) under the ministry of earth sciences, Koh, 2007). involving National Institute of Oceanography, Joseph Priestley in the 18th century and Goa, National Geophysical Research Institute, Humphry Davy in the 19th century discovered Hyderabad and National Institute of Ocean Tech- the gas hydrate phenomenon in which the water nology including some of the major national oil forms cages, trapping gas molecules under high and gas companies (Pic. 3). pressure and low temperature conditions. Subse- To fulfil the current and future energy require- quently, Hammerschmidt, in early 19th century, ments, a huge capital investment is being made on who was working as an engineer with a Texas this Programme. Based on seismic observations,

64 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue Fig. 1: Structure of gas hydrate

Water molecules

Water molecules Source: MIDAS Scientists from the National institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai conducting deep sea research at the central Indian ocean basin (Pic. 2).

Gas hydrate sample collected during Indo-Russian expedition in Lake Baikal, Russia (Pic. 3).

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 65 gas hydrates were discovered in four offshore include, depressurisation (reducing pressure), locations in the India—a few of them were found thermal stimulation (increasing temperature) accidentally while drilling for conventional oil and chemical injection (using inhibitors). These and gas resources. This confirmed the presence of methods primarily affect the phase stability several gas hydrate deposits in the country, out of conditions of hydrate so that they get dissociated. which the most notable is the 130 m thick frac- In depressurisation, the thermodynamic state of tured-shale occurrence in the Krishna-Godavari the hydrate vertically shifts below the equilibrium basin (Sain et. al., 2012; Vedachalam, et. al., 2015). curve, while in thermal stimulation, it shifts towards the right. In both the cases, the near- production of methane from hydrate hydrate zone conditions fall within the hydrate reservoirs unstable region thereby releasing methane gas. Methane hydrate deposits can be classified as, In case of inhibitor injection, the equilibrium ◆ Class 1 reservoirs with an overlying free gas curve shifts towards the low pressure and high layer, temperature region and hence outside the hydrate ◆ Class 2 reservoirs with an overlying water satu- stability zone releasing methane. In addition, CO2 rated layer, and; sequestration, in which CO2 gas is injected into

Water in contact with certain gas molecules at a very high pressure and low temperature forms structures which trap certain gas molecules forming a solid ice like compound known as gas hydrates.

◆ Class 3 reservoirs with two impermeable shale hydrate reserves, is one of the potential methods for layers bounded together. gas production. In upstream oil and gas industry, Another classification which is based on where CO2 is also being used for enhanced oil recovery the hydrate is being formed includes—pore filling to improve the recovery of oil from matured type, naturally fractured type and massive/nodule reservoirs. In case of gas production from hydrate of hydrate deposits. In pore filling type, which is resources, CO2 can be exchanged with methane like the conventional oil and gas reservoir, hydrate gas from hydrate cages. It is a kind of zero energy crystals are present in the pores of the rock such scheme. This can help in CO2 sequestration which as sandstone and carbonate. In case of fractured involves capturing CO2 and sequestering it back reservoir formations, hydrate gets accumulated in the earth’s crust. This method of fixing 2CO has in the natural fractures, while in the third case, dual advantages. First, it helps in cleaning up the the hydrate deposits are found in loose sand on CO2 that has been emitted and second, it stores the surface of seafloor as vast nodules of methane CO2 in the form of hydrates beneath the earth’s hydrate accumulated in the form of lumps (Kuri- surface where the temperature is very low (Nair, hara, et al., 2011). et al., 2016). Various methods have been suggested to It is not only due to its solid state that gas produce gas from these hydrate reserves. These recovery from gas hydrate is difficult, but also

66 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue due to its occurrence in harsh environments like references remote permafrost regions and deep marine envi- Kurihara. M., Ouchi, H., Narita, H., and Masuda, ronments. From the recent successful field tests in Y. 2011. Gas production from methane Alaska, northern Canada, offshore Japan, and hydrate reservoir. Proceedings of the Seventh China, confidence to produce natural gas from gas international conference on gas hydrates. hydrates with existing production technology has Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. Vol. risen. Investigation efforts to confirm the occur- 1721. rence of economically recoverable gas hydrate in Makogon, Y. F., Holditch, S. A. and Makogon, T. marine settings have shown positive results in Y. 2007. Natural Gas Hydrates: A Potential Gulf of Mexico, Japan, and South China Sea. This Energy Source for the 21st Century. Journal has accelerated the pace of gas hydrate energy- of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 56: assessment projects. There has been a tremendous 14−31. development in the field of gas hydrate, which Makogon, Y. F. 1981. Hydrates of Natural Gas. can be mainly attributed to the improvements in PennWell Books, Oklahoma, USA. laboratory work, numerical-simulation analyses, Moridis, G. J., Collett, T. S., Pooladi-Darvish, and national and international collaborative field M., Hancock, S., Santamarina, C., Boswell, experiments. R., Kneafsey, T., Rutqvist, J., Kowalsky, M. B., Regardless of its abundance as a promising Reagan, M. T., Sloan, E. D., Sum, A. K. and energy resource, gas hydrate pose many hurdles Koh, C. A. 2011. Challenges, uncertainties, to drilling and production operations. Methane and issues facing gas production from gas- gas liberated from an unconfined naturally de hydrate deposits. SPE Reservoir Evaluation stabilised gas hydrate reservoir can contribute to and Engineering, 14: 76 –112 the atmospheric methane, a potential greenhouse Nair, V. C., Ramesh, S., Ramadass, G. A. and gas. Sangwai, J. S. 2016. Influence of thermal The challenge for exploitation of hydrate from stimulation on the methane hydrate ocean environment, particularly from Indian dissociation in porous media under confined offshore, is that the hydrate reserves are mainly reservoir. Journal of Petroleum Science and in unconsolidated formation and as part of clay Engineering, 147: 547-559. or sand sediments. Hydrate dissociation kinetics Sain, K., Ojha, M., Satyavani, N., Ramadass, G. depend upon various factors of such complex A., Ramprasad, T., Das, S. K., and Gupta, H. subsea environment. Simply increasing the 2012. Gas-hydrates in Krishna- Godavari and temperature and lowering the pressure at produc- Mahanadi Basins: New Data. Journal of the tion sites would not be sufficient to produce Geological Society of India, 79 (6): 553–556. methane from natural gas hydrate. Seawater Sloan Jr, E. D. and Koh, C. 2007. Clathrate already contains many dissolved salts which influ- Hydrates of Natural Gases. CRC Press. Boca ence the stability of gas hydrates. Their role needs Raton, Florida. to be understood in detail including various other Vedachalam, N., Ramesh, S., Jyothi, V. B. N., factors suitable for gas production. Along with it, Prasad, N. T., Ramesh, R., Sathianarayanan, the impact of various types of porous medium D., Ramadass, G. A. and Atmanand, M. A. in ocean environment on the dissociation of 2015. Evaluation of the Depressurization hydrates needs to be investigated. based Technique for Methane Hydrates Reservoir Dissociation in a Marine Setting, endnote in the Krishna Godavari Basin, East Coast Hydrates are indeed great source of energy. They of India. Journal of Natural Gas Science and can also show potential impact for various tech- Engineering, 25: 226–235. nological advancements in water desalination, refrigeration, carbon capture and sequestration, The Author is Associate Professor, Petroleum Engineering and gas storage applications. In days to come, Program, Department of Ocean Engineering, hydrate will surely be an integral form of energy Indian Institute of Technology Madras Chennai. resource for humankind. [email protected]

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 67 IndIa outdoorS ChangthangMy Leh Diary Wildlife Sanctuary Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary in the Leh district of Jammu & Kashmir abounds with a number of rare species of wildlife, many of which are unique to the region.

68 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue ChangthangStory and Photo by D D Misra

Herd of kiangs galloping into the icy desert

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 69 Earth abounds in fascinating locales, Convention. Despite the appeal, given the limited some of which are easily accessible, time available to me, I reluctantly declined the offer while others require sojourns to to visit the Lake. Waving a goodbye to my travel rather remote corners. In the summer mates, I chose instead to detour to Changthang of 2017, I chanced upon a trip to one Wildlife Sanctuary. suchE location, Leh. The opportunity helped me On the way, I stopped for tea at the Changla Pass, explore the mysteries of a cold desert and I was located at a height of 5,360 m. As I enjoyed the particularly excited about experiencing the windy thick, hot, and sweet broth, I conversed with the heights of Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary. stall owner who proudly showed me the effort he We reached in the evening and suitably accli- is taking to dispose non-biodegradable trash—a matized after a peaceful overnight rest, began our pit where he empties out all the garbage on a daily ascent to the 134 km long Pangong Lake. Located basis. Once this pit is full, it is covered and a fresh at a height of 4350 m, and flanking both India and pit is dug. It was difficult for me to convince him China, the Lake’s chromatic appeal holds enormous that this may not be the best practice, as it can turn attraction for visitors. The Lake, we were informed, the soil toxic and with erosion the waste stood the was in the process of being identified as a wetland risk of being carried off to the lower slopes or into under the Ramsar Convention – an international the river in the valley. I felt there was an urgent need treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of to design an environment-friendly waste disposal wetlands. Also, Pangong is expected to be the first system for the region. trans-boundary wetland in South-Asia under this Established in 1987, the Sanctuary is situated at

70 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue a height that varies from 3,905 to 5,100 m with a topography that consists of vast plateaus, scoured intermittently by deep gorges. There are around A pair of marmots peering out of their burrows—the Himalayan 11 lakes and 10 marshes in the Sanctuary and the marmots are about the size of a large house cat and belong to the squirrel family (L); A Ladakhi braving the chill (R Top); Route majestic Indus flows through it. from Leh to Changthang (R Bottom); A small passerine bird, the The sparse vegetation and low oxygen have a black redstart, belongs to genus Phoenicurus, inhabiting stony fashioned unique creatures that are endemic to the regions, particularly cliffs (Bottom). region such as the kiang, Tibetan gazelle, Tibetan argali, Tibetan wolf, black necked crane, Tibetan lark, pierid butterfly, agamid lizard and Tibetan Shyok River snow trout. Otto Pfister provides a full list of mammals and birds in cold deserts in India in his Leh book ‘Birds and mammals of Ladakh’, 2014. Indus River I set off with a companion well versed about the Changthang Cold Desert resident wildlife that adorns the landscape. The Wildlife Sanctuary weather, characteristic of high altitude areas, was occasionally sunny, windy, cloudy, interspersed Harong Pangong lake with flurry snowflakes blown about by strong gusts. Although I felt the cold intensely, my camera Hemis National Park worked unhesitatingly in the harsh conditions. As

geogrAphy And you . July-August 2017 71 Fig 5: Herd of Kiangs galloping into the Icy desert

72 July-August 2017 . geogrAphy And you 103 issue I captured the first few frames of birds, fluffing and partridge—the national bird of Iraq and Paki- preening themselves against the icy wind, I couldn’t stan, bobbing in happiness, whom I contentedly help but wonder how these tiny wonders live in such captured in frame. As I surveyed the desert against hostile environs. the failing light, an exquisite in-flight Eurasian Our vehicle essayed its way through the Desert, magpie—one of the most intelligent of all non- as herds of pashmina goats and yaks peacefully human creatures flew into view. It left me thrilled grazed. Interestingly, most of the shepherds were to the core. Just then, a distinctive-looking horned women with each group protected by a couple of lark with brown-grey shoulders and pale chest, large ‘herd dogs’. Their temporary white tents, with and striking black and yellow pattern on the face, one side fortified by a high rock face, looked inviting hopped into sight. Soon, the light faded and I was and warm in the chill that was slowly seeping into left with silhouettes of dark mountains against an my bones. inky and starry sky. I was enveloped in pretty snowflakes, as I patiently Back at the hotel, my fellow travellers perceived waited to capture visuals of a black redstart perched how happiness shone through me. Stupefied by the perilously on a protruding rock. A small passerine amazing biodiversity of the rare and hidden treas- bird in the redstart genus Phoenicurus, the species ures of the region, I pined to eke out more time. As I originally inhabited stony ground in mountains, researched about these rare species, I found that the particularly cliffs. Soon I was rewarded with sight- rarest species—both plants and animals—contribute ings of a pair of Himalayan marmots, upright on significantly to the ecosystems where they reside. their legs, surveying the landscape. The Himalayan Scientists believe that rare species, many of which are marmots are about the size of a large housecat and on the brink of extinction, are irreplaceable when it belong to the squirrel family. The woolly creatures comes to providing ecosystem services. Ladakh is swiftly retreated into their burrows as they sensed home to rare, endangered animals that have adapted my presence in the distance. We turned back from to the climate and topography of a cold desert (Goyal Lukum, at about 2 in the afternoon, on a different and Arora, 2009). Such species, they believe, help trail. Apart from the usual species I had sighted buffer ecological disturbances. The increase in little else and was a bit despondent. My elation human populations, per-capita consumption and knew no bounds when I found a small group of the the development of technologies are working towards elusive kiang–wild ass, engrossedly grazing. From the detriment of ecosystems (Ehrlich and Ehrlich, the bridge over the Pagal Nullah, I dazedly captured 2009). shots of kiangs leisurely walking on the white sand, Despite being mere observers of this nature’s just a few kilometres away. They were in our full bounty we can help too. Building knowledge amongst view for several minutes, galloping past the bridge the common people, we can do our bit for conserva- and jumping over the road and soon vanishing into tion and help sustain the ecosystem for these rare their unknown abode. and beautiful creatures. Further ahead, my perseverance was rewarded with myriad sightings of birds in quick succession. references I found a pair of ruddy shelducks dabbling in the Ehrlich, P. R. and Ehrlich, A. H. 2009. The Dominant shallows. Buddhists regard these birds sacred and Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment. extend protection to them in central and eastern Island Press, Washington DC. Asia where the population is thought to be steady Goyal, A.K. and Arora. S (eds.). 2009. Chapter 1: or even rising. Then came along a solitary chukar Overview of Biodiversity: Status, Trends and Threats. India’s Fourth National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, pp. 2 - 40. Available at: http://nbaindia.org/ uploaded/Biodiversityindia/4th_report.pdf Clockwise from top-left: An Eurasian magpie proudly displaying its monochrome wings; a Pfister, O. 2014. Birds and Mammals of Ladakh. lonesome chukar partridge musing on an high Oxford University Press, New Delhi. altitude rock; a pair of horned larks enjoying the chill; A robin accentor picking up seeds and The author is Director at Oil and Natural Gas insects from animal droppings; Corporation Limited (ONGC). [email protected]

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We share because we care l Coal India Limited producing over 81 per cent of the nation’s entire coal production is conscious of its commitment to the countrymen and touches the lives of people in more ways than one. l Constructed 53,142 toilets (nearly 36 per cent constructed by all CPSEs) in six states spreading over 100 districts of the country. l Built ‘Premashraya’ a 525 bedded outpatient home with palliative care facilities as an extension to Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata. l Actively involved in holistic development of villages in backward districts. l Set up Kabi Guru Industrial Training Centre equipped with latest infrastructure to impart quality training and skill development to the youth.

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