core sector communique

Workshop on Gasification Technologies Applicable to India

Vehicle Research and Development Establishment and DRDO organised a one day Workshop on the project ‘Gasification Technologies Applicable to India’ recently here. The aim of the workshop was to sensitize the cross section of potential industries / academies / R&D Organizations in realizing the National Centre of Excellence for Combustion and Gasification (NCECG). This was conducted over a period of three sessions through invited talks by eminent speakers and panel discussions involving experts in the field. It was presided by Padma Shri Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat, Secretary Department of Defence R&D, Director General R&D and Scientific Advisor to RakshaMantri. In his opening remarks, Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat said that the project aims at converting biomass, municipal solid wastes, high ash coal and industrial wastes etc into useful products like electricity, fertilizers and chemicals. This project of Multi-Feed Gasification Technology will be the first of its kind in the world as only Single-Feed Gasification exists as of now in developed / few developing countries. “While it will meet needs of civilian sector also, our aim is to provide green energy for defence needs where it is required for consumption”, he added. Highlighting the importance of energy security with reference to defence forces, he informed that armed forces were among the largest consumer of energy, bulk of which is required in far flung areas. Thus, the transport of fuel is a major issue. We need to have technologies to generate power near the place of its consumption and using sources available nearby linking development with the consumption of power. On this occasion, Principal Scientific Adviser to Government of India Padma Vibhushan Dr. R Chidambaram and Chairman RIS Padma Bhushan Mr. ShyamSharan also addressed the gathering. National Mission-9 Programme under Climate Change Action Plan of Prime Minister of India clearly envisages building an indigenous technology on Multi-feed (Coal, Biomass, MSW, Petcoke) Gasification Technology plant for power and hydrogen. A National Centre of Excellence for Combustion and Gasification ‘NCECG’ is being established by Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) at Vehicle Research & Development Establishment (VRDE), Ahmednagar with the objective of doing a directed research towards this end. The aim of the centre is to develop and establish clean gasification technologies for converting various feeds which are normally in abundance in the country but so far not used to generate energy.