Govt insists to increase added value of coal

By Adianto P Simamora

Director General of Mineral and Coal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Thamrin Sihite insisted that the office would issue regulation requiring miners to do processing of increasing the added value of coal.

"There has been regulation on added value of mineral. There will also be regulation to increase added value of coal," he said in his speech to mark the inauguration of the Japan Gas Corporation (JGC) Coal Fuel (JCF) demonstation plant in Karawang on Thursday.

Thamrin, accompanied by other ministry's senior officials when attending the ceremony, said the JGC experience with the JCF could become an input for the government to make the decision on added value of coal.

The JCF technology has capacity to upgrade calorific value of coal from about 2,500 kcal/kg to about 4,500 kcal/kg.

With a further slurrification process, the upgraded coal would be altered into liquid coal that could be used as fuel for power generating plants.

Editing by David Mustakim