Singareni Collieries Company Limited is exploring entry into the coal gasification sector as part of the State Government's plan to turn the company into a diversified energy enterprise, the chairman and managing director Dr Buddhaprakash Jyoti said after a meeting with the Director General of Hydrocarbons Dr Srikant Nagulapalli at Singareni Bhavan. He briefed the official on ongoing initiatives and preparations for new projects.\n\nEngineers India Limited has completed a feasibility study for a 400 tonnes per day (400 t per day) ammonium nitrate melt plant at the Singareni Thermal Power Plant premises, but the project’s return on investment is not yet encouraging. SCCL is examining measures to improve viability through higher plant capacity, viability gap funding from the Centre and the adoption of indigenous technology.\n\nA team of SCCL officials will visit major coal gasification projects, including Talcher, MCL?BHEL and JSPL, later this month to study operational aspects and learn best practice, while techno?economic studies are under way for surface coal gasification projects in Bheemaram, Chennur South and Naini. The visits and studies are intended to inform project design and commercial planning.\n\nOn underground coal gasification, SCCL has identified five deep coal blocks in the Bellampalli and Ramagundam regions as potential sites and is preparing for a first pilot project in the Bellampalli dip?side block, including drilling work. The pilot will proceed under the technical guidance of scientists from the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute and the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.\n\nThe meeting included directors L.V. Suryanarayana (Operations), K. Venkateswarlu (Projects and Planning) and Gowtham Potru (Personnel and Finance), executive director (Coal Movement) B. Venkanna and senior general managers and officials responsible for coordination, projects and research and development. SCCL is positioning itself to broaden its energy portfolio and to evaluate commercial pathways for coal gasification within regulatory and technical frameworks.