Indonesian coal gasification plants in the works

A coal gasification plant is currently being planned to take advantage of low-grade coal.

The project is being made by coal producer PT Bukit Asam, that has huge reserves of low-grade coal, and fertilizer company Pusri.

PTBA’s president director Milwarma said that the feasibility study for planned coal gasification plant was currently underway.

“The plant will be designed to process coal into gas. If we have the technology, we could also produce various by-products from coal such as methanol and dimethyl ether [DME],” said PTBA president director Milawarma.

Milawarma said that by entering the coal gasification business, PTBA would be able to use the company’s large reserves of low-grade coal, which had not been fully used. Gas produced from the plant would be supplied to Pusri for fertilizer production, he added. “Our low-rank coal accounts for between 60 and 70 percent of our total production.”

PTBA is targeting to produce around 17 million tons of coal this year from its coal mine in Tanjung Enim, South Kalimantan. The company plans to produce 50 million metric tons of coal by 2016. In its attempts to meet the target, the company is developing supporting facilities, such as a new railroad to connect its mining sites in Tanjung Enim to its coal terminal in Lampung.

“Our low-grade coal has been used to meet demands from domestic buyers, while the high-grade coal is usually sold overseas to countries such as to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan,” he said.

Milawarma said he was open to the possibility of participating in the Celanese-Pertamina’s project.

US-based company Celanese inked a US$2 billion deal with PT Pertamina to develop a similar coal gasification project in Indonesia. The difference is that Celanese would turn coal, through gasification processes, predominantly into ethanol, used as a fuel additive, to supply fuel for Indonesia’s transportation needs.

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