Us Coal Industry Banking On India For Its Revival

Americas coal industry, devastated in the 1970s and 80s with the closing of mines and mills, is apparently looking towards countries like India to resurrect itself. India and other nations, industry sources say, could help in the reincarnation of service and technology companies that were left high and dry in the past two decades.

Democrat Frank R Mascara, at a presentation on the Bilaspur Coal Washery Project the first private commercial coal washery for power plant coal in India said, My region of the state (Pennsylvania), which was economically devastated by the closing of the mines and mills in the late 1970s and 1980s, would surely benefit from such a project.

 

We welcome any new business, growth and potential new jobs that are generated first in your part of the world and mine, Mascara said at the event held at the Indian embassy.

The Bilaspur, Madhya Pradesh, collaborative venture between Spectrum Technology in Schenectady, New York, owned and operated by Indian Americans, and CLI Corporation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with the Bombay Suburban Electric Supply Corporation (BSES), Mumbai, recently launched the project to substantially and economically reduce ash levels of low grade coal used for power generation.

The $17 million project, envisaged to be operational in approximately 18 months will process 2.5 million tonnes of raw coal per year, supplied from the Dipka mine of Southeastern Coal Fields Ltd. Most of the raw coal (40 to 45 per cent ash content) will be washed to a guaranteed 32 per cent ash content level and then shipped, some, 1,400 kilometers to the 500 mw BSES power plant in Dahanu, Maharashtra. The transportation savings make BSESs cost of heat-energy per tonne of washed coal less than the cost of heat-energy per tonne of raw coal.

The project is being financed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation of India (ICICI), with a $2.6 million USAID grant funding the segment of the plant that will conduct research to further advance the coal washing methods.

It will demonstrate and document the effectiveness of new technologies to determine the economic limits of coal cleaning and potential washery configuration for ash removal, even down to 25 per cent or less.

The Democrat predicted that if India continues with its drive to reduce pollution an endeavour we need to address to the use of the kind of technologies and equipment produced by CLI, it could be the catalyst that would prompt other firms in Pennsylvania looking for opportunities since the closing of mines and mills to enter the Indian market.

Mascara urged Indian officials responsible for promoting economic development to give firms in my part of the world a closer look. US companies like CLI have a great deal to offer as India emerges as one of the worlds economic superpowers, he said.