Building indigenous capabilities for Thar coal development

Partner Institutes
University of Nottingham	Mehran University of Engineering and Technology

In terms of the world energy consumption, coal still has the highest share in electricity generation and the second highest in primary energy consumption. The abundant supply of coal reserves in Thar, Pakistan can generate up to 40,000 MW of electricity for more than 200 years – a blessing considering the country’s current electricity woes – yet there is a need to utilise this resource in an environmentally friendly way.

The Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, Pakistan has taken up the challenge to develop the Thar coal fields in Sindh in collaboration with the University of Nottingham, UK under the INSPIRE programme.  Through this programme, the Mehran University intends on maximising capacity-building through transfer of knowledge and trainings. There is also proposed development of manpower through a proper training of personnel at the coal mines.

Pakistan possesses the seventh largest lignite resource in the world with 193 billion tonnes of lignite/coal reserves concentrated in Thar region in the eastern part of Sindh Province. Thar coalfield covers an area of approximately 9000 km² and is estimated to contain 175 billion tonnes of lignite resources. The design of safe high wall slopes is necessary to ensure mine safety and overall economical viability of the mining operations. The knowledge transfer between the universities will ensure an optimum model development.

The conversion of Thar coal into a syngas has the potential to meet the ever-increasing energy demand of the country and a research collaboration with Tsinghua University, China has been established to conduct joint research on coal gasification and coal combustion. There is also an opportunity of conducting a split PhD programme with Hacettepe University, Turkey. 

The ultimate goal of the programme is to develop local expertise and indigenous technology for coal mining, coal cleaning and coal gasification, through strong collaboration with research groups in foreign universities. It also aims on facilitating the strategic development in mining engineering, thermal engineering, chemical engineering and environmental engineering to meet the international standards. 

The Nottingham University will benefit equally from the outcome of the research paper. The novel conditions under which the project will be conducted are something that are not present in UK and this will in turn lead to experience enhancement of the professors involved.

Lessons learnt:

• Thar coal field is one of the biggest in the world, therefore, a large proportion of this field is still unexplored. A general geology, geomechnaics and the hydrological conditions are evaluated. I have defined the path to be followed for optimal 3D coal seam modelling strategies.

 Impact: 

• Development of Thar Coal Field is the number one project in the country. High population and lack of energy are the major problems in Pakistan. Any effort on this project should be primarily supported. As a matter of fact, field is very large and an overall modelling has not been completed yet. The field is divided into blocks. Every block has been evaluated separately. However, the field should be modelled as a whole first and then cola quality related attributes can be better understood. As a result, fields suitable for underground and surface mining methods should be identified. Otherwise, overburden might be dumped on the fields suitable for surface mining.

Key Contacts:

Prof. Dr. R N. Singh, University of Nottingham

Raghu.Singh@nottingham.ac.uk, www.nottingham.ac.uk

Prof. Dr. Abdul Ghani Pathan, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology

dean.engineering@admin.muet.edu.pk, www.muet.edu.pk