Pakistan has huge coal reserves which it wants to capitalize for energy production and policy makers want to develop a homegrown FC industry for future Hydrogen Economy [1]. By developing a coal based FC, in short term Pakistan would be able to capitalize on the enormous benefits which a FC has over coal combustion power systems and in the long term when the time comes for transition to hydrogen we would already be having an established technology and industry and it would be simply changing from one fuel to another. This paper discusses the stepped approach to achieve this goal.

Currently Pakistan produces 3.9 million tons of coal annually. However, the huge discovery at Thar with established technical and commercial viability of confirmed reserves of 175.5 billion tons of coal [4] has immensely increased Pakistan’s horizons for indigenous energy sources. Thus the policy of pursuing coal based
power stations is rational and logical. But this coal, be huge in size, is still limited. We need to utilize it as efficiently as possible. More importantly, seeing the future of the world – the Hydrogen based world – and FC a major part of this world, we need also to pursue the policy to start developing a fuel cell industry. FC prices
are declining continuously and the time is now ripe to step into this industry. If this time is lost then in future the FC prices would reach to such a competitive scale that starting an alien FC industry could become nearly impossible. And then Pakistan would become just as dependent on foreign Hydrogen energy as it is on oil today.

WHats Wrong with Nucelar Power Plants ?

I dont thin we need More Uranium for POwer Plant.

Coal is a Natural Gift not to be Consumed in huge numbers. what After Coal??? Again Nuclear Power.

Why not today then after sucking our Important natural resources.

I dont thin we need More Uranium for POwer Plant.

Coal is a Natural Gift not to be Consumed in huge numbers. what After Coal??? Again Nuclear Power.

Why not today then after sucking our Important natural resources.

Just saw Interview of Minister on Geo..he Break the news that our coal reserve can be converted in to 400 billion barrel Oil reserve he told in interview that this about is more then what Iran and KSA have

P.S man 400 Billion Barrel this amount is some thing very serious i hope we can progress in this project ( he told us that project is already started with the corporation of China :)

How is that gonna work?

Coal to Oil conversion, is that even possible? :-) Or is it a trade? Coal for Oil?

ISLAMABAD, Sept 1: The government has decided to develop the Thar coal for power generation on a priority basis to overcome energy crisis following confirmed estimates that its reserves were equivalent to at least 850 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas — about 30 times higher than Pakistan’s proven gas reserves of 28 TCF.

“By using only two per cent of the existing coal reserves, we can generate around 20,000 megawatts for almost 40 years,” deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Dr Akram Sheikh told Dawn after presiding over a meeting on energy security. Coal mining in Thar requires a phased investment of $4 billion.

These estimates were confirmed by separate bankable feasibility studies conducted by Chinese and Russian experts. “We have so much of energy at home but we are looking for imported fuels,” he said, adding an effort was being made to correct the situation.

The studies had also confirmed that 185 billion tons of coal deposits in Pakistan were second only to 247-billion-ton reserves in the United States and much higher than 157 and 115-billion-ton reserves of Russia and China, respectively. Another senior official said the decision to accord top priority to coal was taken because there was no tangible or bankable progress on three proposed gas import pipelines.

Dr Sheikh said Thar coal reserves were equivalent to at least 400 billion barrels of oil — equivalent to oil reserves of Saudi Arabia and Iran put together. One estimate puts Pakistan’s coal energy at 576 billion barrels of oil which is equivalent to combined oil reserves of the three largest producers.

- Uh Oh…a warning sign! The calculation might be wrong unless they added in the future increase of energy demand…Oh well, global warming will become worst!!

I think he is not talking in equivalent energy output terms(which was what I thought at first too), this figure is the same as the current minister has quoted, its the amount of synthetic crude oil that can be generated from this reserve, IMO.

Many believe that personal interests of some leaders in the Sindh’s ministry of mines to be blamed. Others say Chief Minister should be held responsible for non-development of Thar district because he came directly from that area. There are few who even ask why not Mr Shaukat Aziz who made it to the Prime Minister’s post by taking votes from Thar’ies and then forgot them. But it is a fact that Thar coal is blackening the faces of all.



Thar coal in Sindh province is the World’s largest coal reserve. Still, only one per cent coal is being used for power generation in Pakistan. As against this, 55 per cent electricity in neighboring India is based on coal, 58 per cent in Germany, 90 per cent in Poland, 50 per cent in Australia and 38 per cent in Russia. Just two per cent of its use for power production can ensure more than 20,000 megawatt of electricity for more than 40 years.



There are confirmed estimates that its reserves were equivalent to at least 850 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas – about 30 times higher than Pakistan’s proven gas reserves of 28 TCF. Students in the primary classes used to be taught decades ago that Pakistan has one of the largest coal reserves. It is a million dollar question as to why the use of these reserves is still far from reality. Why these resources remain untapped and lobbies provide joyride trips to the authorities in the energy ministries for fuel imports, both in the form of petroleum, natural gas pipelines and liquefied natural gases. A big question mark on their integrity, vision, planning and professional capacity.



The provincial government did not want to loose its contract awarding rights to the centre and it was itself incapable to doing things at its own. The provincial authorities say the centre wanted to deprive it of its constitutional rights. Power utility Wapda also has stakes. Coal mining at Thar requires a total investment of $4 billion in a phased manner. These estimates have been confirmed by separate bankable feasibility studies conducted by Chinese and Russian experts. “We have so much of energy at home but we are looking for imported fuels”, said Dr Akram Sheikh, head of the planning commission adding an effort is being made to correct this situation.

The studies have also confirmed that 185 billion tons of coal deposits in Pakistan are second only to 247 billion ton reserves in the United States and much higher than 157 and 115 billion ton reserves of Russia and China respectively. The decision to accord top most priority to coal has been taken as there was no tangible or bankable progress on three proposed gas import pipelines.

Thar coal reserves are equivalent to at least 400 billion barrels of oil - equivalent to oil reserves of Saudi Arabia and Iran put together. One estimate put Pakistan’s coal energy at 576 billion barrels of oil which is equivalent to combined oil reserves of the three largest producers including Saudi Arabia (264), Canada (179) and Iran (138).

Having failed to materialize gas import pipelines, the government was now in the process of setting up a $500 million Thar Coal Mining Company with equity participation to provide guarantee to international mining majors to develop mines because Thar reserves were about 238 meters deep compared with 270 feet deep coal deposits in Germany. The major use of Thar coal would, however, remain power generation because it was not of metallurgical or coking grade but could used for oil production, ground and under-ground gasification that could be transmitted through pipelines to any part of the country for cement and fertilizer industries.

The studies also revealed that 2,000 MMCFD (million cubic feet per day) of coal gas is equivalent to 250,000 tons of coal per day and was capable of producing 20,000mw through gasification route. As by-product, the same quantity of coal can produce 5.14 million tons of fertilizer which is higher than 4.5 million tons current production in Pakistan besides a chain industrial activity of pesticides, enamel, epoxy resins, liquid nitrogen, naphtha, methanol etc.

The President has been asked to order an enquiry as to how a Chinese group was discouraged that had offered to set up a power plant at 5.7 cents per tariff by developing the mine as well but gas plants 5.9 cents per unit and thermal plants at 14 cents per unit tariff were allowed to power plants. “It has become pretty clear that many people within the government were discouraging cheaper projects of natural resources like water and coal to promote imported fuels”, claims a senior government official. An official delegation led by Advisor to the Prime Minister on Energy would be leaving to Beijing early next month to hold road shows for attracting Chinese coal mining companies to become part of the project directly as management partners and also financial institutions. The $500 TCMC would be responsible for mining, research and introduction of latest mining and refining technology. The whole plan prepared on the basis of a year long study by Rheinbraun Engineering Company (RWE) of Germany of one coal block of Thar project, was presented to the President and the Prime Minister on July 28 and was cleared for implementation.

The company, with 49-51 per cent public and private shareholding respectively, will have a debt-equity ratio of 70:30. Of the $150 million equity, the government will have 49 per cent share to be contributed on an equal basis by the federal and provincial governments while 51 per cent shares would be offered to the private sector for investment. The remaining $350 million would be raised through loans.

The company would be run by the private sector management under a board of management. This would allow international mining firms to become part of the company to initially develop one modern mine with six million tons of annual coal production that would be enough to fuel about 1,000mw and then move on to the next mine.

The plan approved by the President and the Prime Minister envisaged unbundling of Thar Coal project into mining and power generation to bring down the size of investment in each block from $1.5 billion to $500 million. The decision stemmed from realization that mining and power generation could not go together and need to be separated and developed independently. It was also felt that energy crisis has already hit the country that might be choking the economy from next year and even the power produced from natural gas was now costing 5.9 cents per unit.

“We lost six years in attracting large companies that could finance up to $1.5 billion in mining and

production of electricity from Thar coal reserve but failed to get a breakthrough because such a big investment was not forthcoming”. It has also been decided that Wapda should be geared up to set up first coal-based thermal power plant at Thar if foreign or local investors continue to show laxity because dependence on imported fuels has to be checked.

The “mining majors” were not coming in for the Thar coal mining. Many companies showed keen interest in power generation at Thar coal but showed hesitation when the government asked them to also develop the mines themselves. An integrated project of mining and power generation required investment between $1 – 1.5 billion which was found to be very difficult. “Thar is not worth $1.5 billion investment for a foreign investor”.

The planning commission advised the government that it would not be prudent to leaving energy planning to the ministries of water and power and petroleum or their management capacity should be strengthen at the top level. The $1.5 billion Thar Coal Power Project in Sindh with an estimated production capacity of 1,000mw of electricity has already been put on hold following Rs23 billion demanded by the sponsors to lay a pipeline for fresh water which the government believed was unreasonable. A new study would be conducted to see if a power project would be feasible if established at Umarkot through transportation of coal from Thar by laying a rail track and running a regular train. The new site could also be used for power generation by using imported coal.

Thar’s four blocks were identified by the Geological Survey of Pakistan in the early 1990s while another two blocks have now been created by the Sindh government. Block one of Thar coal was earlier offered to Shenhua group of China which also hit. The GSP drilling data has indicated three water-bearing zones (aquifers) at an average depth of 50, 120 and more than 200 meters. The government has now realized that coal deposit were enough to meet country’s energy requirements for centuries and it was time to religiously focus on developing these resources, instead of continuous dependence on imported fuels.

The bloody billions if not tens or hundreds of billions we could save using our own coal could go into local hydrogen fuel-cell technology and make Pakistan one of the world's few big hydrogen power producers! Think of the markets currently unable to even use such power i.e. Africa, Middle East, parts of Southeast Asia...we can set up their power plants AND provide the fuel!

Plus we can inves the oil/coal/gas money into tidal, solar, wind, hydro, plasma (waste), etc, etc, technology!

This is Allah's gift brothers...

And our coal reserves would be second only to the US! And that is what we have discovered so far! There may be even more coal in another part of the country.

We can convert our coal into gas, oil and fuel-cells...we can cut ourselves off from importing Middle Eastern oil and hold those guys accountable to more balanced trade...i.e. no more trade deficits! Plus we can expand our influence in Africa by providing them with cheap and liberal energy...in the short term with hydrocarbons, and Insh'Allah in the long-term with hydrogen-energy and/or other green technology.

Although in its infancy but plans are for upto 50% efficiency compared to around 35% which is possible through direct burning of coal.

source

What will the impact on the environment be. It sounds like an amazing prospect if its true and is done correctly. However we dont want to turn a huge area of Pakistan into a wasteland. This needs to be looked into very carefully and we need to have Chinese cooperation in this.

All though the resources are there, there is a large investment requirement, which should be considered, although the pay off is great

(i don't have the sources, i did thereserch about 2 years ago for a paper to the numbers may gave changed)
around 2005-2006 a chinese company bought a plant from sasol for about $6 Billion US dollars (2006 dollars)
the plant could make on a daily basis 100,000 barrels of oil at a cost of about $40 at the current price of oil at approx. $89 (as of feb 2,2008), that is a profit of nearly $49 per barrel, or about $4.9 Million a day, in a year that comes out to $1.7885 Billion of pure profit, meaning the plant could pay for it self in approx. 40 months of operations

the chinese have gone into this and boutght about 6 plants, as well as are developing their own

IF and thats a big IF the report above is true, then this could be a big way for pakistan to shift from an importer to an exporter
build a petro-chemical giant (hopefully the company will stay 100% pakistani owned so the profits can stay in pakistan)

the governent should build one plant, with ToT and in partnership at first with the chinese that are doing on a big scale

if started in 2010, we could see good results within 3 years
if it works out, pakistan could start making the coal oil and export it to china, via the rail to china that is planned
once that supply chain is set, then more and more plants could be set up, being spread across the country (giving job aleviation, taxes, etc.)

Currently pakistan imports nearly 300,000 barrels a day, three plants could supply the whole country and folow on plants could be used to export or supply pakistani companies

we should look at how the russians run a state owned oil company and not get screwed

but all this has to be done fair and square, under the law, or this can create bigger problems (ie. an independent Sindh)

this is a double edged sword, its no childs play

It is foolish to export coal to china, we should focus more on developing our energy needs first and at the same time focus on working a feasble plan out with the chineese which focuses on refined resource production instead of just raw resources, because with time they are gonna use better means of pulling the coal out, this will lead to a conflict of intrest for the Chineese when we would ask them to meet our own energy needs through plants or TOT...

ZPAK

Unless Pak takes a different route to industrilisation, which is unlikely, environmental and human suffering is bound to happen. Only beneficiaries are the state and educated/business class. If you look at other nations development you will see similiar patterns. The working class and other low groups will get the dirty end of the stick. No other way in my opinion. UK US etc have followed policy of growing now then redistribute later. Lastly China has not got a good envirnomental record, we can mimise destruction but progress usually triumphs over other concerns.

The US-UK and to a certain extent even China did not know the effect of Carbon emissions in the environment, only till like the 80's. The human population is much more educated in this field now.

Pakistan can learn from the mistakes of previous industrialized nations and maybe bypass some of the negative aspects of mass industrialization. I know there is massive scope in trying to develope clean fuel technology, and i think Pakistan with this find should be investing in such technologies.

Too expensive. All are industries esp textiles are locked in fierce competition where price matters, the owners are already complaining of high prices from conventional sources. New technology or existing renewables would need customers to pay higher tariffs.
Minimising the effects seems to be only way like concentrating on effiency. Large scale use of renewables would be difficult for Pak to achieve. If you look at EU cut in emissions through use of renewables. They are very modest but still are unlikely to be achieved.