This issue is a cause of concern not only for the non-government environmentalists but also for Coal India which has already set up non-coking coal washeries as per the earlier mandate of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986.
Having been in the coal industry for more than 40 years and an advocate of introducing washing of high ash non-coking coal, I thought to bring to the notice of the readers the events that have led to the current situation.
Background of first restrictions on use of >34% ash coal
With the introduction of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and the rules framed there under subsequently, the need for taking measure to control pollution of air, water and land gathered importance for sustainable development.
Several notifications were issued from time to time and one such relating to usage of high ash non-coking coal in the power plants or other industries was framed as sub-rule 8 of Rule 3 of the Environmental (Protection) Rules in September 1997.
In the background of this Rule was the results of the studies conducted with usage of washed non-coking coal in some of the power plants, namely Dahanu of BSES and also one of NTPC.
The results had indicated that there was ample improvement in the efficiency of the boilers and other parameters of power generation amounting to increased production of power.
This story is from the June 2020 edition of Coal Insights.
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This story is from the June 2020 edition of Coal Insights.
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