Steel Minister Ram Chandra Prasad Singh on Thursday chaired a meeting New Delhi with the stakeholders from the steel industry, consultancy providers and CSIR- Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research along with officials of Steel Ministry to deliberate on the prospects of using coal gasification in steel production through the Direct Reduced Iron DRI route.

The Steel Minister emphasised the need for development of indigenous coal gasification technology which is suited for the indigenously produced coal. Mr Singh urged the stakeholders to come together in development of the technology which can be gainfully utilised by the steel industry and help in reducing the dependence of imported coal and promote Atmanirbhar Bharat.
Discussions were held on the present scenario and the way forward for promoting coal gasification in the steel sector.

Various Coal Gasification Technologies commercially available, their pros and cons and their suitability for Indian high-ash noncoking coal were discussed. Development of Indigenous Technology for coal gasification alongwith technologies for recovery of the by-products for applications in the various sectors such as chemicals, fuels, fertilisers etc. were also discussed.

The Steel Minister directed that to facilitate creation of an ecosystem for coal gasification and development of indigenous technology a Committee with members of the concerned Ministries like Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas along with the stakeholders from the steel industry, consultancy providers, research laboratories CSIR-CIMFR, technology providers etc. be constituted.