Central Fuel Research Institute

Font Size :

Print

INTRODUCTION:

CFRI under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Centre is a premium research organisation of international repute devoted to R & D work-both fundamental and applied on Indian Fuel Resources mainly on coal and lignite.CFRI is professionally competent to provide the research, development and engineering support as well as human resource development needed to evolve environment friendly energy management systems for the coal, power, steel, cement, chemical and other industrial and domestic sectors both within the country and outside.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FIELD OF SCIENCE:

CFRI has contributed vast knowledge in the basic studies on fuel science including proposing a model for the structure of coal. Besides, pilot demonstrations have been carried out in the area of coal gasification, fluid bed combustion, oil agglomeration, conversion to liquid fuels by hydrogenation and by Fischer-Tropsch route, formed coke, solvent refined coal, and coal oil and coal-water slurry, etc.

CFRI plays a participating role in guiding the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in drawing national level standards relating to the area of Coal Science and technology

MAJOR R & D ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT IN CFRI:

With the goal of helping the country become an energy efficient nation over the past five decades, CFRI as a premier research organisation is known for its contribution :

quality assessment of coal resources,
generation of the basic process know-how for the operating coking coal washeries built for the processing of 36 mtpa of coal,
prescribing blends for the coal for coke making in the steel industry
designing non-recovery coke ovens for foundry and domestic coke
processing of coal tar
utilization of fly ash generated at the power plants for building bricks and also as a soil conditioner in agriculture

The following are listed as significant achievements in CFRI:

Selection of optimum coking blends for steel plants, characterisation of available coking coals, commissioning of coke oven batteries, development of improved designs for beehive coke ovens
Development of solvent refined coals (SRC), a coking additive from non/weak - coking coals that would help reduce prime coking coal component or imported coal brands in the coke ovens in the steel plants
Process development of indigenous sand for caking index (import substitution) and reactivity of coke/ char, development of carbon molecular sieve for gas separation, utilisation of low-ash metallurgical coke (LAMC) as heating medium in the production synthetic graphite and substitution of synthetically calcined anthracite by LAMC for alumina reduction cell
Basic studies on the structure of coal that have led to valuable information useful in the production of coal fertilizer, sponge iron using non-coking coal, briquetting and formed coke, prediction of tar formation demineralization of coal and auto oxidation and spontaneous combustion in mines and stacks
Development of a series of zeolite catalysts for the production of industrial chemicals like 2-, 3- & 4-picolines and pyridine.
Development of coke/ coal based efficient home chulhas under the NPIC of Department of Non-conventional Energy Sources.
Monitoring of air, water, soil and affluents with a view to combating environmental pollution by different industries; evolving national standard for SPM in stack emissions of coke ovens and briquetting plants; collaboration with MOEF for total methane budget from Indian paddy fields; study of CO₂ emissions from coal-based industries; and utilization of fly-ash in agriculture as a source of essential plant nutrients and soil conditioner.