Methanol economy

The Assam Petro-chemicals Limited (APL)'s expansion project at Namrup ready for commissioning is good news not just for the state but for the entire country. The 500 tonnes per day methanol project, when commissioned, will be a big step towards achieving the country's target of meeting the increasing demand of methanol from domestic production. About 75 to 80 per cent of methanol use in the country is met through imports from Middle East countries. Currently, the APL accounts for 60 per cent of the total 20 to 25 per cent domestic production.

The public sector petrochemical company produces methanol from natural gas. The commissioning of the plant will increase methanol production capacity of APL from current capacity of 100 tonnes per day to 600 tonnes per day and annual production will witness a quantum jump from 33,000 tonnes to 1,98,000 tonnes. This will, however, be possible only if the guaranteed supply of the required quantity of natural gas to APL is ensured by the Central government. The country's methanol demand is projected to grow to 46.75 lakh tonnes by 2030. According to NITI Aayog, Methanol economy can cut down India's import bill by about 10 per cent which is significant given the target of 10 per cent reduction in the oil import bill set by the Central government.

The Aayog had proposed blending of 15 per cent of methanol with petrol to bring down the oil import bill by 10 per cent. India's import bill on account of crude oil and petroleum products was to the tune of Rs 8.42 lakh crore in 2019-20 and was Rs. 3.65 lakh crore from April till December in 2020-21. Currently 10% ethanol blended petrol used in vehicles in India, but the price of methanol is half of ethanol. The APL launched a pilot project on using methanol as alternative cooking fuel in APL township in Namrup and results were encouraging. Methanol and its derivatives are used as base material for production of acrylic plastics, synthetic fabrics, fibres, paints, adhesives besides agrochemical and pharmaceutical industries.

The Annual Report of APL for 2019-2020 states that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has already allowed use of methanol blends as fuel in the country. "Methanol can replace the diesel used in Railways, Marine sector and generation of power etc. Generator sets with 4 KW and 15 KW are already successfully commissioned in India with Methanol as fuel. With the introduction of Methanol blending with gasoline and other alternative uses will lead to increase in the domestic demand of methanol manifold, states the report. It also claims that introduction of M-15 fuel i.e., Methanol 15% blending with Petrol will reduce air pollution by 30% and diesel replacement by Methanol will reduce air pollution 80 per cent. Impact of such reduction of air pollution will be huge in cities like Delhi where rise in number of vehicles has led to aggravation of air pollution.

Meeting rising demand of energy for automobiles and other industries from domestic production comes with cost of environment destruction as proven reserves of natural resources such as crude oil, natural gas, coal etc. are found deep inside in forests including rain forests. Balancing nature conservation and meeting demand for fuels, therefore, is quite challenging and require scientific and innovative approach. The Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary is located at 5 km aerial distance from the APL project site. Jaipur Reserve Forest is 2 km from the project site while the river Dili is flowing at a distance of 4 km.

The demand for freshwater from River Dili is estimated to go up from 1200 cubic metres (1 cubic metre= 1000 litres) used in the existing plant to 2800 cubic metres per day after commissioning of the new plant. Industrial effluent generation is also estimated to increase from 190 cubic metres per day to 1443 cubic metres a day after commissioning of the new plant. It is hoped that APL authorities will ensure that there would zero effluent discharge outside the plant premises to prevent any adverse impact to the environment and aquatic resources. Lessons from Baghjan gas well blowout should keep reminding the APL authorities to ensure that the safety measures of the plant always remain the top priority and are not allowed to be compromised by pressing market demand or by command performance. Maintenance of the green belt around the existing and the new plant will be vital. The NITI Aayog is pushing for methanol production from coal and biofuel. The Aayog must not lose sight of the damage caused to the Dehing Patkai elephant reserve due to rampant coal mining and must look for alternative coal reserves for methanol production from coal. The state is poised to benefit from methanol economy, but it must not jump the red light in green zones.