Coal Washeries: Improving India's Coal Grade ACB (India) Limited Leading The Way

Online, April 1, 2011 (Newswire.com) - India which is one of the heavily populated countries in the world is also one of the fastest growing economies.

Due to its fast pace of growth and other growth induced reasons the country has a high consumption of energy and to fulfill this consumption the country is still dependent on coal as its main source of energy.

Luckily for India, it is home to the fourth largest coal reserve in the world, which is approximately 287 billion tonnes. But even though the country has a rich reserve of coal, the grade of coal is largely of lower grade (Grade E or F) which raises a host of problems like lower thermal plant productivity and most importantly multiple environmental hazards other than high transportation costs.

But now, due to the advancement in technologies, India has a solution to the problem of low grade coal through "Coal Washing Technique".
The coal washing process involves grinding coal into smaller pieces and subjecting coal to gravity separation. This process reduces the ash content of coal, which means lower carbon emissions and amount of Sulphur present in coal, which in turn would mean lower transportation costs and higher productivity of thermal plants.

Taking into the consideration the numerous benefits of coal washing, many public as well as private companies have entered in this domain.

The largest player in the coal washery industry in India today is ACB (India) Limited , a company focused not only on coal beneficiation but also producing cheap power through coal reject from Washeries. Out of about total 55 Washeries spread across the country with an approximate capacity of 135 MTPA, the company has its own 16 Washeries spread across various geographies contributing approximately 50% to the total MTPA capacity in India.

The Largest Washery in India is Dipka which is owned by ACB India Limited and is situated in Distt. Korba , Chattisgarh. This washery is also one of the largest in the world having the capacity of 12 MTPA.

Over the years, coal washing technology has become widespread in the country and is well linked to coal usage in India now. Also, with the power for all initiative by FY12 of GoI and the growth in the industries which use steel and cement as raw materials, the demand for coal is on the rise and it is expected that the total coal demand would be approximately 600 MTPA by FY12 out of which 487 MTPA is for the power sector only.

With such high expectations from the coal industry and particularly from the coal washeries, the coal washery industry poses to be an approximate $5 billion industry and ACB (India )Limited which is a leader in this sector have a huge growth potential lying in front of them.