The ongoing war in West Asia has plunged the world into a deep energy crisis. In India, the availability of domestic fuel, LPG, has been hit due by the disruption in supplies from the Persian Gulf. The global energy crisis is reminiscent of the Oil Shock of 1973 when members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut oil production and slashed exports to protest the U.S.’s support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War. India responded by exploring alternative sources of energy, offshore oilfields in Bombay High, and by experimenting with new technologies.
One technological option that found a second life this way was coal gasification.
The idea of using gasified coal to meet some of India’s fuel needs first emerged in 1955 when Syed Husain Zaheer, director of the Regional Research Laboratory Hyderabad (RRLH) — now the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) — and later director-general of CSIR, submitted a plan to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for a cross-country national gas grid. The plan envisaged the use of fuel gas produced from gasifying of coal and its supply through pipelines for domestic and industrial use. Zaheer believed fuel gas of high calorific value could be produced by completely gasifying non-caking fuels such as shale coal, lignite, and bituminous coal, all found in India.
‘Town Gas Supply Scheme’
The technology involved gasifying coal using high pressure to form hydrocarbons and using oxygen to maintain a high thermal efficiency. It started with converting the sulphur present in the coal to hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and small amounts of carbonyl sulphide (COS). Sulphur compounds are then removed from the gas stream and separated acid gas is further processed to recover elemental sulphur.
The gas was further cleaned using water scrubbing to remove any remaining particulate matter.
In the 1940s, coal gasification was used at a commercial scale to provide town gas for street lighting in Europe and the U.S. But the concept’s techno-economic feasibility had yet to be established for Indian coal.
To start with, Zaheer proposed a “Town Gas Supply Scheme” for Hyderabad based on gasifying the coal found in the Singareni collieries and piping it to the city. If a gasification plant was established at Kothagudem, gas could be supplied not only to Hyderabad but also to several towns along the 290-km-long route, per the plan. Based on surveys of fuel consumption, population and demand projections, family income, and fuel demand trends, Zaheer proposed a pressure gasification plant of 7.5 million cubic feet capacity, and suggested the gas pipeline could be laid along the railway track to facilitate easy maintenance and inspections.
Tough going
To demonstrate the technology’s feasibility, pilot studies were needed, which in turn required funding. Zaheer’s idea did not find any takers in the Central government or the CSIR. On the energy front, the policy focus at the time was on finding petroleum reserves and the development of nuclear energy, besides harnessing hydroelectric power from large dams.
So in 1961, Zaheer urged Nehru to make a policy decision to establish several plants for manufacturing town gas based on coal gasification in select coal belts and linking them through a countrywide grid. Nehru liked the plan and observed that it was “a modern and more economical method, and it will bring enormous relief to the railways”. But the Ministry of Steel, Mines and Fuel pointed to the “infeasibility of the plan for transporting gas over long distances”. The Planning Commission, the Coal Council, and the CSIR as well remained cold to the proposal and were reluctant to fund a pilot plant to test coal gasification.
When Nehru appointed Zaheer the CSIR director-general in 1962, Zaheer got a chance to implement his idea to develop a pilot plant at RRLH. But the going was not easy as the plan required importing equipment. The wars of 1962 and 1965 did not help, delaying the procurement of machinery from Germany, and there was a massive cost overrun due to the devaluation of the rupee.
The pilot plant for coal gasification set up by the Regional Research Laboratory,
Hyderabad.
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
The project came to a halt as soon as Zaheer’s term ended in 1966. His successor, Atma Ram, formed a committee to review the project. The panel gave an adverse report saying “it would not be advisable to establish and operate the plant in a manner proposed by RRLH” and suggested that the imported equipment be disposed of.
Back then, there was strong opposition to CSIR labs setting up pilot plants to demonstrate technologies they had developed. This was despite the RRLH having already been running a successful semi-commercial pilot plant on another coal technology: low temperature carbonisation. Following the RRLH model, the National Chemicals Laboratory in Pune and the Indian Institute of Petroleum in Dehradun erected pilot plants as well.
‘Had we listened…’
After several reviews and controversies, the coal gasification project at RRLH received the go-ahead in 1972 and the crates of imported machinery were opened seven years after they had landed in Hyderabad. The project also received an unexpected boost: the Oil Shock in October 1973. The shortage of petroleum products sent the government scurrying for alternative fuels, recognising that “in the perspective of the country’s long-term energy requirements, consideration should be given to installing small to medium coal gasification plants to produce gas”.
“It is now abundantly clear that a coal-based energy strategy is the only realistic course for us,” Prime Minister Indira Gandhi announced, recognising the past mistakes. In her inaugural speech at the Indian Science Congress session at Bhubaneswar in January 1977, she admitted, “Had we listened, in the early ‘60s, to Dr Husain Zaheer’s plea, and based our chemical feedstock policy not merely on oil but on the abundant coal reserves, we would have withstood the oil crisis with much less strain.”
However, by the time RRLH erected the coal gasification pilot plant, the technology had moved to the next level. The pilot plant was used as a test bed for research on the integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), in collaboration with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), which commissioned the first such plant in 1985. Unlike coal gasification to produce town gas, IGCC combined gas production from coal with electricity generation. The syngas produced by gasifying coal was used to run a power plant generating electricity. Gas-fired turbines were used to produce electricity and the excess heat was routed to steam-driven turbines.
Second wind
Although India began early with fuel R&D with national laboratories engaged in coal, petroleum, and geophysics research, the funding was suboptimal and projects lacked the necessary industrial linkages. Policymakers and competing interests failed to see the need for long-term research in this area.
Interest in clean coal technologies has been revived as climate action has intensified. The National Coal Gasification Mission, which India launched in 2021, aims to gasify 100 million tonnes of coal by 2030. “The adoption of gasification technology in India will revolutionise the coal sector, reducing reliance on imports of natural gas, methanol, ammonia and other essential products,” according to a government statement.
Massive investments to the tune of Rs 85,000 crore have been committed to the Mission. Coal India Limited and BHEL also floated a new company, Bharat Coal Gasification & Chemicals Limited, in 2024 to work on clean coal technologies.
Dinesh C. Sharma is a New Delhi-based journalist and author, and has written books on India’s post-1947 science and technology journey. He is currently working on a biography of Syed Husain Zaheer.
Published – March 19, 2026 07:30 am IST
