Union Minister for Heavy Industries Mahendra Nath Pandey dedicated India's first BHEL-built 'coal to methanol' (CTM) pilot plant to the nation.
The plant was inaugurated in BHEL's Hyderabad unit on the occasion of 'Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' to commemorate 75 years since India's independence.
The 0.25 TPD (tonnes per day) capacity CTM pilot plant that has been indigenously designed, developed and installed by BHEL is currently producing methanol with purity of more than 99 per cent from high-ash Indian coal.
The pilot project is the first that uses the gasification method for converting high-ash coal into methanol.