Coal India Research Articles

Prediction and policy: Do empirical gross calorific value prediction help reduce coal testing overload?

The gross calorific value (GCV) of coal is pivotal in shaping policies across various sectors of the Indian economy. It plays a crucial role in classification and valuation of coal and is a major factor in determining electricity tariffs charged by thermal power plants. With coal production escalating year-on-year to meet India's increasing electricity demand, there is significant rise in coal testing activities along the pit-to-power supply chain at multiple points and by multiple testing agencies often driven by sector-specific policy requirements. While laboratory testing accurately determines GCV, it is costly and time-consuming due to the reliance on expensive equipment and skilled personnel. Global researchers have previously devised a plethora of empirical formulae predicting GCV based on its correlations with easy-to-measure properties like moisture and ash content. However, the applicability and utility of these formulae to the prevalent policy matrix of coal and power sector remain to be explored. The introduction of independent third-party assessment of coal quality by Coal India Limited in 2016 has generated a vast dataset of coal sample-test results, offering an opportunity to reassess existing empirical formulae, test their alignment with existing policies, and explore possibility of a unified, region-neutral formula for rapid GCV prediction with a special focus on alleviating the current overload in coal testing.

An assessment of environmental impacts in mining areas of Paschim Bardhhaman district, West Bengal, India

Mining is the most significant economic action in the Paschim Bardhaman district of West Bengal, India. Simultaneously, it has an enormous figure of negative influences on the natural, environmental, ecological, and social environment. The land use and land cover (LULC) alteration, coal mining effect (open-cast) on the LULC, and the local environmental influences are deliberated. The Paschim Bardhhaman’s LULC area is examined for the period of 30 years i.e., since the year like 1991 to 2021. Furthermore, alteration examination and spatial–temporal dynamics of LULC quantification are also deliberated. Analysis discloses that the water body marginally increased from 0.64% in 1991 to 0.96% in 2021. Mining area increased from 0.00% (1991) to 8.97% (2021) respectively. Instead, vegetation has decreased from 40.17% (1991) to 31.20% (2021) continuously. Similarly, settlement increased from 5.02% to 13.77% in the year 1991 to 2021 respectively. Agricultural land progressively decreased from 44.47% (1991) to 39.73% (2021) respectively. Raniganj Coalfield area, Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL), and Coal India Limited (CIL) are the triggers for open cast mining. Land surface temperature (LST) increased by 7.96 ˚C (summer) and 10.24 ˚C (winter) between 30 years. The LST, LULC, and vegetation limitations are substantial factors in the universally changing climate investigations. Thermal infrared remote sensing demonstrated its competence for observing temperature and moving micro-climate in urban regions. The outcomes indicate that the outside temperature influences self-heating surfaces (hotspots) regions. The examination likewise shows that the outside temperature influences the self-heating surfaces (hotspots) regions.

A System of IoT Devices to Prevent the Underloading And Overloading of Railway Wagons

Coal transportation poses substantial obstacles for corporations such as Coal India Limited (CIL), including concerns with route selection, rehandling, precise weighing, demurrage costs, and underloading fines. CIL's failure to adopt optimal transportation routes has resulted in needless costs. Coal rehandling at depots has proven expensive, and there are disparities in coal transportation rates. The lack of weighbridges makes accurate weighing difficult, resulting in probable pilferage. Demurrage costs have been a financial hardship, and railway carriages underloaded have resulted in fines. To address these challenges, the proposed IoT solution seeks to reduce financial losses, improve operational efficiency, increase accountability, ensure regulatory compliance, provide real-time monitoring, automate alerts and penalties, improve communication, improve data security, provide multilingual support, and, ultimately, increase revenue. This idea aims to change coal transportation by increasing efficiency, transparency, and cost-effectiveness for CIL and the government. However, it incurs initial expenses and complications associated with IoT deployment, maintenance, and regulatory compliance. Keywords: CIL, IOT, efficiency, pilferage.

Examining the integration of women's issues in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy of Coal India Limited

This paper examines efforts to integrate women's concerns into Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes and policies in India's coal mining sector. This is achieved by taking into consideration the subsidiaries of the largest coal producing company in the country: Coal India Limited. The study finds that, in relation to the various categories that fall under CSR, expenditure on, as well as the nature and number of projects related to, women's welfare is underwhelming. In light of this, the management of Coal India Limited's subsidiaries are urged to prioritise the launching of CSR projects that address women's needs, and which broadly, focus on gender equality and empowerment.

Paytm Ipo : Unravelling The Behemoths Downfall

adhur Deora, the Group Chief Financial Officer at Paytm's parent company, One 97 Communications, made a striking statement, "A higher valuation could have been achieved but we decided to price it at a level where everyone makes money." Paytm had embarked on an ambitious journey to raise over ₹18,000 crores ($2.2 billion) through its initial public offering (IPO) filed in July 2021. This IPO marked a significant moment in the stock market, drawing global investors' attention. Notably, it stands as the largest IPO in the history of India, surpassing Coal India's previous record of ₹15,000 crores.

Electrical resistivity tomography technique coupled with numerical modelling: A case study for stability analysis

AbstractCavity due to underground old mine workings is one of the major threats to the coal mines and the overlying subsurface and surface properties, which need to be protected. The detection of old mine workings and stability assessment of overlying strata are common problems in most of the Indian coalfields. Several coal mines in India are loss‐making, mainly due to different types of mine hazards. Khandra mine is one such mine at Raniganj Coalfield, Eastern Coalfields Ltd., a subsidiary of Coal India Limited. In the present study, 2‐dimensional and 3‐dimensional electrical resistivity tomography were carried out for detailed subsurface characterization. It supports delineating underground workings, including the nature of voids/cavities (air or water‐filled). Excessive distortions were reported in electrical resistivity tomography application, especially at the near‐surface, owing to large resistivity variations. Refinement of the model by half‐unit electrode spacing was attempted here to reduce the distortions with minimum possible absolute errors. 3‐Dimensional resistivity volumetric model was also developed with the help of five electrical resistivity tomography parallel profiles for better apprehension of the subsurface. Analysis provided important inputs for stability analysis using 3‐dimensional numerical modelling. The physico‐mechanical properties of the overlying strata, pre‐excavation in situ stresses, boundary conditions and the mine geometry simulation were incorporated for understanding the stability analysis. Stability analysis was carried out using the finite difference technique. The analysis of 3‐dimensional numerical modelling indicated that two distinct layers comprising (i) laterite/part of the course to medium‐grained sandstone and (ii) developed galleries of R‐IX seam exhibited a very low safety factor below 1.0, indicating potholing/subsidence susceptibility. The other three layers comprising parts of fine‐grained sandstone exhibited a relatively higher safety factor of around 2.0, indicating moderately stable zones, but not on a long‐term basis. Parts of Siduli stream embankments need suitable retaining walls to avoid water inundation for the stability of the area.

Time to pay the piper: Fossil fuel companies’ reparations for climate damages

Time to pay the piper: Fossil fuel companies’ reparations for climate damages

Comparison of model study with field implementation of gravity blind backfilling method to control subsidence induced disaster in abandoned underground coal mines

Blind hydraulic backfilling technique is used for subsidence control in underground coal mines. A laboratory size model of underground working was developed to understand backfilling process. Observations from model were utilized for backfilling process in one of the underground mines. This study describes the results obtained in the field investigation at an old abandoned waterlogged underground coal mine of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited and their verification with the findings obtained in the laboratory scale model study carried out on a model of underground coal mine worked by board and pillar method. The relative influence of slurry concentration and flow rates on the areas of filling from a single inlet borehole has been discussed. The relative spread of sand in different directions has also been measured using a remotely operated underground vehicle mounted camera. The empirical relationships developed under field conditions have been found to be similar to those of laboratory model.

Phasing out Coal Mining in India: A Complicated, Complex Conundrum

Phasing out Coal Mining in India:A Complicated, Complex Conundrum Sindhu Menon (bio) Criticised, condemned, shamed and slammed, India became the talk of the event at the the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference (COP26), held in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12, 2021, for reducing unabated coal usage. Instead of the much deliberated and agreed-upon decision to 'phase-out' the use of coal as an energy resource, the concluding session of the Glasgow climate summit spoke of 'phasing-down' the use of coal. Many-a-country held India responsible for making the pact weaker by introducing the concept of phasing down of coal, jeopardising the stand of the vast majority of members to do away with coal. Although the hidden role of China, US and many other coal producing countries was obvious, the media across the world held India responsible for wilfully delaying the process towards achieving net zero fossil fuel usage. On 17 November 2021, after being blamed for weakening the Glasgow Climate pact, the Indian government clarified India's position by explaining how the whole situation unfolded at COP26. According to the official sources, many countries had objected to the initial text of 'phasing out of coal and fossil fuel subsidies'; later the countries reached a consensus about this, based on which a revised text was framed, with the term 'phase-down' instead of 'phase-out'. Official sources further clarified that it was unfair to blame India for promoting a 'phasedown' when the reality was that the new text the Indian representative read out was based on a request by Alok Sharma, Chair of COP 26. Be it a fair or unfair, being one among those 200 nations, which participated in COP 26, India pledged to cut emissions to net zero by 2070, reduce carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030, and raise the share of renewables in the energy mix to 50 percent. Can India do away with coal easily? Mining of coal began in India in the 18th century and, currently, it is the world's second largest producer and consumer of coal, after China. As of 31 January 2022, the percentage of electricity generated through fossil fuels (coal, lignite, gas, diesel) accounted for was 59.1 percent (235,929 MW), of which coal alone contributed to 51.6 percent (203,900 MW).1 India's current demand for coal—955.26 million tonnes—will go up to 1.3 to 1.5 billion tonnes by 2030, estimates the Economic Survey 2021-22. Despite the fact that the push for other sources of renewable energy is in the forefront, coal continues to be the largest domestic source of energy supply and electricity generation. Is the current coal debate political? The nationalisation of coal mining began in India in the early 70s, after which Coal India Ltd. and its subsidiaries got a monopoly in mining. Amending the Nationalisation Act in 1993 paved the way for private players to enter the sector, and companies mined for coal for their own use in industries such as steel, power and cement. The channels for exploitation of the workers and Earth, thus, became seamless. On 11 January 2021, the Ministry of Coal launched a 'Single Window Clearance Portal', a unified platform that facilitated the grant of clearances and approvals required for starting a coal mine in India. Union Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah, launched the portal in the presence of the Union Minister for Coal and Mines, Shri Prahlad Joshi, in an event organised in New Delhi, to execute agreements with successful bidders of India's first ever commercial coal mine auctions. Addressing the occasion, the Union Minister, Shri Amit Shah, said that the coal sector has crossed an important milestone in fulfilling the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-reliant India) under the leadership of Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. He said that the coal sector would play a key role in achieving the target of a 5 trillion dollar economy. Shri Shah said that, for a long time, a need was felt to remove the bottlenecks in the coal sector and bring transparency in it, which has been fulfilled during the Modi government. In January, the...

Mental Health Questionnaire (MHQ) for Managers: Development and Standardisation

Nowadays mental health is being fundamental concern to human being, while work is an integral part of modern life. Mental health is an important psychological attribute that plays a determining role in increasing the performance of employees and reducing rate of absenteeism, tardiness, and turnover of employees in the organisations. Our aim was to explore the psychometric properties of the newly developed questionnaire related to mental health. The items were framed with help of the previously available tools and interaction with sampling unit. Initially, 56 items were constructed related to the emotional, psychological and social well-being, eliminating jargons and complex terms defining the dimensions and its underlying statements so that newly developed questionnaire could be used in variety of workplace settings and items were framed to fit the manager’s context. Only 42 items were retained on the basis of experts’ maximum agreement and this 42-item questionnaire was distributed to participants to take their responses. The sample comprises of 250 managers of first level working in different units of Coal India Limited. The results of reliability analysis indicate that Cronbach’s alpha = .896 after deleting the 15 items from the questionnaire due to poor corrected item total correlation, less loadings and cross loadings in exploratory factor analysis. The reliability statistics fit the optimal level of Nunnally’s criteria and statistically acceptable for newly developed questionnaire. Results of the exploratory factor analysis indicate that these 27 items are loaded on three factors and these three factors explain 42.623% of total variance in mental health. This questionnaire will be useful for assessment of mental health of managerial personnel.

Critical Technology Environment Management With CSR in BCCL

Abstract: Mining is the most dangerous peacetime profession and coal mining is more so because of fire by spontaneous combustion, methane explosion, etc. Out of 7 subsidiaries of Coal India, Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. have maximum environmental challenges. The authors have studied the critical issues of management and presented summarily how the problems are being tackled. CIL has strongly fostered the belief that people living in mining areas are important stakeholders in the process of mine development and taking various activities for the development of the area. In this paper, the roles of different stakeholders in a coal company are analyzed for all-around development and cooperation. The global scenario on CSR has also been studied. In this paper, the authors have described special studies in sustainable mining with stakeholder engagement in Bharat Coking Coal Ltd, a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd, a major producer of valuable coking coal in India. The results ensured trouble-free operations among highly unemployed people in the mining areas, because of the closure of uneconomic mines. Keywords: Mines Fire Control; Pollution Control; Impact of Mining: Corporate Social Responsibility; Stake-holders role; Inclusive Growth.

Design of blasting patterns to induce effective caving in continuous miner depillaring panel – a case study

ABSTRACT An innovative scheme of induced caving by blasting was adopted in the depillaring continuous miner panel CM1 of Jhanjra Colliery of Eastern Coalfields Limited, a subsidiary of Coal India Limited. Initially, the blasting pattern was designed with respect to underground workings and later with respect to the surface, vertically above the panel, to facilitate effective caving. The natural caving was delayed due to the presence of three hard-rock beds of more than 5000 cavability index in the immediate roof of the R-VI seam in addition to the oversized left-out standing pillars kept during coal extraction in the panel, which provided extra supports to the hanging roof-rock in the goaf. To mitigate the situation, the design parameters were meticulously planned and implemented for successful blasting operations, which led to effective caving in the goaf and enabled successful extraction of the coal from the panel maintaining the required level of safety and productivity.

“Perception of Employees on Organizational Culture of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (With Special Reference to Kothagudem Mines, Khammam District, Telangana State)”

Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is the second largest coal mining company in India after Coal India Limited (CIL) with a total man power of 56,282 during 2016-17. It is a public sector coal mining company jointly owned by Telangana State Government (51 Percent share capital) and the Government of India (49 percent share capital). The company’s accredited function is to explore and exploit coal deposits in the Godavari Valley coal field area covering the four districts of Telangana State namely Adilabad, Karimnagar, Khammam and Warangal. The company markets its coal to diverse industries such as thermal power plants, cement, steel, paper, textiles, tobacco, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, distilleries etc. With spurt in industrial growth and the resultant increase in demand for electricity, the company has been playing a key role in the growth and development of the nation. Further, the new Electricity Act providing opportunities for independent power production and distribution, the demand for coal has increased phenomenally. In short, the demand for its coal is more than what it can supply to the market. Hence the company has to take measures to increase its coal production and productivity, which in turn to a large extent depends upon positive organizational culture. In a dynamic and changing environment, culture’s flexibility, adaptiveness and responsiveness create organizational capabilities. Organizational culture plays a vital role in the survival and success of organizations. Hence, the present article focuses on the perception of employees of SCCL on the Organizational Culture that is prevailing and whether the present Organizational culture is conducive to the productive performance or not. Certain Statistical tools like Chi-Square test, ANOVA and T-test have been applied to validate the perception of employees.

A data visualization tool to benchmark government tendering process

Purpose Government e-Procurement systems are generating tender-level process event data which are not being analyzed much. The purpose of this paper is to present a data visualization tool to benchmark the government tendering process. This tool collects, collates and presents e-Procurement process data in a meaningful way that enables comparisons and benchmarking leading to insights for process improvements and identification of the best practices. This tool is accessible on the website of South Asia’s first public procurement observatory (www.procurementobservatoryup.com) founded by the authors. Design/methodology/approach The authors started with an initial set of key performance indicators (KPIs) based on extant literature and existing practices. The authors got them verified by various relevant stakeholders through a series of formal and informal discussions. Some of them were dropped due to observed variations or their inability to offer insights to arrive at the final set of KPIs. In this paper, the authors use actual process-level data. Government of India’s National Informatics Center has implemented e-Procurement portals in various states and public enterprises (PEs) in India which provide tender-wise detailed e-tendering process data. The authors designed a web crawler that collects these data in a tabular format, which allows an easy analysis and comparison to measure and compare government tendering process performance for the last five years for the two large PEs. The authors also engaged in discussions with the procurement executives of the two PSEs to derive meaningful managerial insights from the results obtained. Findings Using the public procurement data visualization tool, the authors compare the procurement process of two of the largest Indian PEs, Coal India Limited and Indian Oil Corporation on the developed KPIs and draw insights. The results show significant difference in their procurement process performance due to different practices followed by them. Through interaction with the procurement managers of these two organizations, the authors identify few good procurement practices that can be applied to improve public procurement process. Research limitations/implications This paper uses actual process-level data which can be used not just to identify improvement opportunities but also to gauge the impact of any process-level change. It presents a data visualization tool to generate insights from data generated by a procurement/tendering system. Such visualization and benchmarking can uncover better procurement practices and provide an impetus toward data-driven policy formulation. Apart from the two PEs as reported in this paper, this tool has also been applied on the public procurement data of eight Indian states. Practical implications The KPIs presented in this paper are aligned with the various dimensions of public procurement’s objectives. The visualization tool presented in this paper is based on the Open Contract Data Standard and has a universal application. Social implications The use of technology and open data sharing as the enablers of benchmarking and process improvements help in establishing a dynamic competitive environment leading to financial savings, better services to citizens and proper use of taxpayers’ money. Originality/value This paper presents an original work carried out under the aegis of South Asia’s first procurement observatory at IIM Lucknow. The benchmarking tool presented in this paper uses open contract data standard and can be applied in most of the public procurement processes. This paper takes the discussions on e-Procurement to the next level, where the concern is no longer restricted to only adoption and assimilation issues, but also on how to make use of the data that these e-Procurement systems generate.

Spatio Temporal Variation of Air Pollutants in the North East Coalfield areas under Indian Coal Mines

This is a part of the project which developed an Information & Communication Technology based software application tool focused and addressing the issues related with the preparation of Environmental Monitoring Report and Environmental Management Plan in North-Eastern Coalfields under Coal India Limited. It addressed mine water treatment with cost analysis, Overburden Dump Management along with the parameters of Air, Water, Effluent Water, and Soil. This user friendly software tool enabled with GIS or Geographical Information System.The present paper dealt with the air pollution and its variations in a spatio-temporal scenario. In a highly vegetation domain which covered not only by forests but also wild life and tea gardens, air pollution played a pivotal role in maintaining the ecological balance, specially for micro organisms. Therefore the work opened a broad scope of research from air pollution to micro organism balance in an eco sensitive region.

The Role of Information Technology for Knowledge Management: An Empirical Study of the Indian Coal Mining Industry

ABSTRACTCoal continues to be a primary source of energy in many developing countries because of its low cost and wide availability. India is a future driver of global energy consumption. The Indian energy sector is largely dependent on coal and is currently undergoing an infrastructural overhaul to reduce dependence on imports. Information technology (IT) could facilitate knowledge management (KM) and contribute to growth of the Indian coal industry. We evaluated IT practices for KM at Coal India Limited (CIL), a state-owned behemoth that contributes 84% of India’s coal production. Managers (n = 118) were surveyed to evaluate impact of IT on efficacy of knowledge processes, managerial productivity and decision-making. The results revealed that IT facilitated decision-making, but did not improve efficacy of KM and managerial productivity; highlighting the need for streamlining IT practices. The lack of a) systemic adoption, b) reward for knowledge sharing, and c) facilities for knowledge sharing and storage, were the major barriers to KM. These findings could help frame guidelines to improve IT infrastructure and KM policy in mining organizations in India and other developing countries.

Implications and Usefulness of Fundamental and Technical Analysis in Stock Market Decision Making

This paper threw light on the practical usefulness of fundamental and technical analysis. Company level fundamental analysis may involve examination of financial data, management, business concepts, and competition. Technical analysis is about analyzing past price action and from that deriving a predictive model for the future. Fundamental analysis is more useful for long term trades and investments ; whereas, technical analysis is more useful from a short term perspective. For the purpose of data analysis and interpretation, five market capitalization services companies were selected. These are TCS, Reliance, Coal India, HUL, and Hindustan Zinc. Data for 10 years were collected for these companies. Stock market prices of 10 years of these companies were employed for the technical analysis. Also, balance sheets of 10 years of these companies were employed for fundamental analysis. In the study, it was found that both the analysis were useful in dealing with stock market activities.

A Case Study on Sustainable Development in Coal India Limited

A Case Study on Sustainable Development in Coal India Limited

Underground Coal Gasification – Experience of ONGC

Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) is expected to be game changer for nation like ours that requires large amounts of energy but have few natural resources other than coal. ONGC, being an integrated energy company and due to synergy between E & P operations and UCG, envisaged opportunities in UCG business. Its first campaign on UCG started in 1980s. With its initiative, a National Committee for UCG was constituted with representatives from Ministry of Petroleum, Dept. of Coal, CSIR, CMPDIL, State of Gujarat and ONGC for experimenting a pilot. It was decided in mid-1986 to carry out a UCG pilot in Sobhasan area of Mehsana district which was to be funded by OIDB. Two information wells were drilled to generate geological, geophysical, geo-hydrological data and core/coal samples. 3-D seismic survey data of Mehsana area was processed and interpreted and geological model was prepared. Basic designing of pilot project, drilling and completion, strategy of process wells and designing of surface facilities were carried out. The project could not be pursued further due to escalation in cost and contractual difficulty with design consultant. ONGC second UCG campaign commenced with signing of an agreement of collaboration (AOC) with Skochinsky Institute of Mining (SIM), Russia on 25th November 2004 for Underground Coal Gasification (UCG). In parallel, MOUs were signed with major coal and power companies, namely, Gujarat Industries Power Company Ltd (GIPCL), Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Ltd (GMDC), Coal India Ltd (CIL), Singareni Colliery Company Ltd (SCCL) and NLC India Ltd. Under the AOC, suitability study was carried out for different sites belonging to MOU companies. Only Vastan mine block, Nani Naroli, Surat, Gujarat was found to be suitable for UCG. Therefore, subsequent stages of detailed characterization & pilot layout, detailed engineering design were taken up for Vastan site. After enormous efforts for quite long since 2006, in the absence of UCG policy with Ministry of Coal (MoC), MoC finally allotted in-principle Vastan Lignite block to GIPCL in Aug. 2015. The project was to be carried out through a joint venture between ONGC and GIPCL. Unfortunately, efforts lacking sincerity were made by GIPCL for JV. MOC also did not bother adequately to monitor development of JV between ONGC and GIPCL. And finally, GIPCL citing the company to be small sized and it being without any experience on UCG, withdrew from the project in Dec. 2016. Now the block allocation process for the Vastan will have to be initiated afresh by MOC. The future of ONGC yet another UCG campaign seems to have once again hanged in balance. In view of the association with UCG for the decade and based on the feedback from the world-wide status of the technology, the author tries to make important suggestions in the paper for expeditious and efficient implementation of UCG technology in the country.

Workshop on Challenges and Opportunities of Underground Coal Gasification in India (UCG-2017)

Workshop on Challenges and Opportunities of Underground Coal Gasification in India (UCG-2017)