In an attempt to explore the various possibilities of production of Methanol in the country, a Methanol task force meeting recently in the national capital deliberating on the strategy.

Following the meeting, V.K Saraswat, Member of the NITI Aayog said that four broad projects have been identified by the task force and strategy is being laid down to execute these projects in the country.

Informing about the projects, Saraswat said that the panel will look at procuring or making technology that can assist producing methanol from the coal.

Elaborating further he informed that the country at present has coal with a high ash content and there is not much technology available for utilizing this type of content.

Secondly, the panel is to focus on ways to make use of the bio-mass and convert it into methanol.

Saraswat said that at present, there is technology that turns the bio mass into bio gas, carrying it forward, the department will be launching dedicated project to explore this possibility.

Thirdly, the NITI Aayog has decided to hunt for ways to make use of the stranded gas that is available in the country which Is also known as flared gas.

And the fourth project upon which the panel deliberated during the meeting us the government departments exploring the possibility of introducing engines that are run on methanol.

Saraswat informed about the projects after the task force meeting at the NITI Aayog headquarters in New Delhi. 

A day earlier, Saraswat in a press interview said that the government is looking at making a corpus of over 4000-5000 crore rupees to develop a Methanol into a usable fuel in the country. (KNN/DA)