Indigenous mineral resources’ exploration being strengthened
By Ali Imran

ISLAMABAD—The government has planned to strengthen research and development centers for the promotion of indigenous mineral resources, aimed at putting the country on the path of self-reliance.
In this regard, Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) has approved a 79.48 million project to establish facilities for coal cleaning, coal gasification and coal combustion at National Fuel Center (NFC) of Institute of Engineering and Technological Training, Multan. The project will be completed within three years in collaboration with NFC of Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR), Karachi.
Highlighting the utility of the project, Minister for Science and Technology, Ch. Nauraiz Shakoor Khan said this is part of the government’s initiative to explore and exploit the fuel resources to reduce dependence on imported oil.
At present the import bill of oil is around US $ 2 billion which is 23% of total export earning.
Pakistan has huge reserves of coal, which are approximately 185 billion tonnes, but these coal deposits can be optimally utilized only with the strong back up of scientific organizations.
The government needs analysis and technical advisory services to materialize research results into pilot projects and to transfer the know-how to industry. The project, therefore, has direct linkage with sectors, which need clean coal for industrial use. It can prove vital for the success of many future projects of the energy sector.
WAPDA is planning to increase the capacity of coal-fired plants from 50 MW to 4350 MW and three projects of 1200 MW each based on Thar Coal. Thus the significance to indigenous coal to meet the future energy needs of the country is obvious.
Nouraiz Shakoor said coal can also salvage the cement industry problems, which is in bad shape because of heavy cost of fuel. The use of coal would result in saving of nearly Rs. 495 million per year for a plant producing 3000 tones of cement per day. The use of furnace of oil for producing one ton of cement is said to cost Rs. 924 as against about Rs. 374 with the use of coal.
SNGPL has invited private and public sectors to install a coal based gasification plant for the supply of gas to Bhakkar district. Most Pakistani coal has high amount of sulphur, ash and moisture and, therefore, detailed investigation and a pilot power plant is required before selecting the technology and module of commercial unit based on indigenous coal.
The developed processes at NFC Multan will lay down strong foundation of clean coal technology and will be leased out to private and public sectors to put commercial size plants giving boost to economic activity and increasing employment opportunities in backward areas like Thar.
Pakistan’s coal reserves are fifth largest in the world but only 4% of electricity is generated by coal and 3.6% of energy supplies are met by coal.