Page 23 - Mines and Minerals Reporter eMagazine - Volume October 2021

TECHNOLOGY

handling of coal also contribute to emissions, although as dis-
cussed in the next section, the rate of emissions is highly de-
pendent on the mining configuration. It should be noted that
even though the overall share of coal in India’s primary energy
is 54% while that of oil and gas is 36%, the fugitive methane
emissions are slightly higher for oil and gas (54%) than coal
(46%) (MOEFCC, 2021). This is due to different reservoir con-
ditions for coal, which has a highly adsorptive structure, as
compared to conventional oil and gas, which have less porous
structure. Other emissions also arise from transportation of
coal though these are anticipated to decline if the railway and
road transport become gradually decarbonized. Finally, the re-
cent 2019 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
refinements on greenhouse gas inventories indicate that CO2
emissions should be accounted for from the coal mining stage
as well. While published analyses are limited in the Indian
context, the proof-ofconcept work carried out at three under-
ground mines indicate strong correlation with the amount of ed since 2001. So far, 33 blocks have been awarded and the
ventilation air (Singh, 2019). total CBM production at 2.01 MMSCMD in early 2018. In the
Raniganj Block operated by Essar Oil Limited, the gas produc-
Mitigating emissions tion increased from 0.15 BCF in 2011 with peaking in 2017 at
from the mining sector 13.59 BCF (Kelafant, 2020). This entailed a compound average
growth rate of 111% from the inception of the block to the
peaking period. The Great Eastern Energy Corporation Limited
Methane emissions from coal mining and handling activities (GEECL) is also reported to be producing 0.55 MMSCMD with
depend largely from the type of mining operation (under- the selling price of the gas estimated at $8-22/MMBTU (Singh
ground or opencast) as well as the degree of gassiness of and Hajra, 2018). The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)
the underground has also been pro-
mine. The prior Name of the colliery Name of Coal field Degree of Mine CMM resource ducing gas at a
estimates of na- (Billion cubic meter) commercial scale
tional emission Kalidaspur Raniganj III 3.783 and its prospec-
factor along with tive peak gas pro-
the share of the Ghusick Raniganj III 2.58 duction from four
fugitive emissions Murulidih Jharia III 4.98 blocks is projected
are shown in Ta- Amlabad Jharia III 0.76 at 30,000 m3/day/
ble 1. The latter Sudamdih Jharia III 0.80 well. More recent-
assumes a rate of Central Parbatpur Jharia III 5.31 ly, Coal India was
coal consumption also reported to
of 0.6-0.7 kg-coal/ Jarangdih East Bokaro III 4.87 have issued a letter
kWh along with a Sawang East Bokaro III 6.31 of acceptance to a
combustion emis- Table 2. Important mines for CMM recovery in India (Singh and Kumar, 2016) CBM developer in
sion factor of 0.8- the Jharia CBM block.
1.0 kg-CO2/kWh (Singh et al, 2016; Sarkar et al, 2021). It is
noteworthy that the share of fugitive methane emissions may While the extraction of VCBM does not directly intersect with
be more than a quarter of the overall GHG emissions for de- the coal supply chain, it could lead to considerable decar-
gree-III mines. We caveat this by stating that the share of un- bonization opportunities within the energy sector (Figure 1).
derground mining in India, especially from degree-III mines, First, the gas may be utilized at an emission factor of nearly
has been going down. That said, specific regional opportuni- one-third of that of an average coal combustion/ conversion.
ties do exist for Raniganj, Jharia and East Bokaro coalfields. Second, the Government of India has also indicated hydrogen
utilization as a thrust area. The Ministry of Petroleum and
The primary mechanism of recovering coalbed methane in In- Natural Gas has created a corpus fund of $13M for hydrogen
dia thus far has been from virgin blocks – in what is called as research activities. As CBM is nearly pure methane, it may be
virgin coalbed methane (VCBM). The extraction of methane utilized to produce grey/ blue hydrogen using steam methane
from such blocks has been ongoing with blocks being award- reforming (SMR), a globally proven technology at a high read

OCTOBER 2021 / MINES & MINERALS REPORTER 21