Gadchiroli is emerging as a steel industry hub, and Coal India (CIL) is set to explore the region as a potential cluster for syngas, a cleaner alternative to coal.

In a technical session at Advantage Vidarbha, CIL outlined plans to sell syngas to industries in the area, with independent tenders to be issued this month for both extraction and offtake. Several new steel units in Gadchiroli have shown interest in using syngas as fuel, and CIL is open to producing it from the coal it mines. Raigarh in Odisha is also being considered as a syngas consumption cluster.

Peeyush Kumar, Managing Director of Bharat Coal Gasification and Chemical (BCGCL), a joint venture of CIL and BHEL, said, “CIL has resources like land and coal, and private players can come up with technology for extracting syngas. The extraction can be done at the consumers' end for direct offtake.” While BCGCL is developing a coal gasification project in Odisha, CIL will issue the tender. Sources note that it may take at least four years before syngas production in the country becomes operational due to long gestation timelines.