Coal India and IIT-Hyderabad sign pact to establish Centre of Clean Coal Energy & Net Zero

Coal India and IIT-Hyderabad signed a ₹98-crore pact to establish Centre of Clean Coal Energy & Net Zero (CLEANZ) on Friday.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) for setting up the Centre of Excellence was signed by the IIT-Hyderabad B. Srinivasa Murthy and Coal India chairman and managing director P.M. Prasad in the presence of Union Minister of Coal & Mines G. Kishan Reddy and Singareni Collieries Company chairman and managing director N. Balaram Naik.

CLEANZ aims to focus on pioneering clean coal technologies with a special emphasis on low-grade and rejected Indian coals. It will address key areas like enhanced coal bed methane and coal mine methane recovery, carbon capture technologies and mineral beneficiation, gasification and syngas utilisation. It has plans to establish pilot plants based on research-driven technologies, implement deep tech innovations such as 5G, robotics, and material sciences, develop extraction and technologies for critical and rare earth minerals, etc.

Mr. Kishan Reddy said thermal power, primarily by coal consumption, has consistently accounted for more than 70% of total power generation in the country. India has become the highest consumer of coal, second highest in production and fifth in the world in terms of reserves, said a press release.