Centre inaugurates India's first Coal to Methanol Pilot plant built by BHEL

17 Jan 2022 , 09:22 AM

As part of the ongoing Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, Hon’ble Union Minister for Heavy Industries, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey dedicated India’s first, BHEL-built Coal to Methanol (CTM) pilot plant, to the Nation. Dr. Nalin Shinghal, CMD, BHEL, Jeetendra Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries, Functional Directors on the Board of BHEL and senior officials of the Ministry of Heavy Industries and BHEL were present in the virtual ceremony.

Dr. Pandey also inaugurated an exhibition on ‘Products Developed under Aatmanirbhar Bharat organised at BHEL’s Hyderabad unit. In addition, an audio-visual presentation was made on the ‘Unsung Heroes of the Indian Freedom Struggle’ belonging to the Telangana Region.

BHEL employees joined the program virtually from multiple locations across the country. While participants logged-in to the online event in large numbers, the event was also webcast live where scores of employees watched the proceedings through the broadcast mode.

Speaking on the occasion, the Hon’ble Minister said that one of the important goals of our Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision is to build a self-reliant nation. The role of the manufacturlng sector will be crucial in realising this vision. The government has already highlighted the importance of the manufacturing sector through schemes like Make in India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat. The capital goods industry is the backbone of the manufacturing sector.

It provides critical inputs such as machinery and equipment to a broad set of user industries. Being the largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise, the role of BHEL in fulfilling the vision of the Government is of particular importance. As announced by the Prime Minister in the recently concluded COP26 meeting, BHEL will have to play an important role in building an Atmanirobhar Bharat to meet India’s climate commitments.

Dr Nalin Shinghal, CMD, BHEL, while enumerating the initiatives undertaken by BHEL during the ‘AKAM Iconic Week’ celebrations, thanked the Ministry of Heavy Industries and the Government for supporting BHEL on a sustained basis. Addressing the participants, he said that R&D has always been one of BHEL’s core strengths and BHEL is focussed on playing a leadership role on the path to achieving the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s ‘Panchamrit’ vision @ the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26).

Notably, the 0.25 TPD capacity CTM pilot plant, indigenously designed, developed and installed by BHEL, is currently producing methanol with purity of more than 99% from high ash Indian coals. Significantly, this conversion of high ash Indian coals to methanol through the gasification route, is the first of its kind technology demonstration in India.

At around 9:23 AM, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) was trading at Rs64.30 apiece up by Rs0.6 or 0.94% on Sensex.