Coal India begins retrofitting dumpers to run on LNG
State-run coal producer Coal India has started retrofitting LNG kits in its dumpers, the Indian coal ministry said on November 2 in a statement. Dumpers are the big trucks engaged in the transportation of coal in mines.
Coal India in association with India’s biggest gas marketing and transportation company Gail and state-owned heavy equipment makers Bharat Earth Movers has taken up a pilot project for retrofitting LNG kits in two 100 metric ton dumpers operating at its subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields.
Once the LNG kit is successfully retrofitted and tested, these dumpers will be able to run on a dual fuel system and their operations will be significantly cheaper and cleaner with the use of LNG, the ministry said.
The company in July had announced its plan to replace diesel with LNG as the fuel for its heavy earth-moving machines. It uses over 400,000 kl/year of diesel with an expense of over 35bn rupees ($470mn). Coal India has over 2,500 dumpers operating in opencast coal mines and the fleet consumes about 65 to 75% of the total diesel used by the company, the ministry said.
“LNG is likely to replace diesel use by 30 to 40% and reduce fuel cost by about 15% paving the way for 5bn rupee savings annually if all heavy earth moving machines including dumpers are retrofitted with LNG kits,” the ministry added.
The cost economics of the project will be evaluated after completion of the pilot project and technical study on the performance of the dumpers. The pilot project is likely to be completed by the year-end. Based on the outcome, Coal India will decide about bulk use of LNG in its heavy earth moving machines, especially dumpers. It is planning to buy heavy earth moving machines with only LNG engines if the project becomes a success and this will help reduce its carbon footprint drastically and achieve sustainable goals, the coal ministry said.
In order to reduce air pollution, the Indian government is promoting the use of cleaner fossil fuels like natural gas. It aims to raise the share of gas in the Indian energy mix to 15% by 2030 from about 6% now.