NEW DELHI | Jan 04, 2016: Coal India Limited has awarded Monnet Ispat & Energy and CLI Corporation, USA the work of setting up Hingula coal washery in Odisha, which has a capacity of 10 million tonnes per year.

"The competent authority has been pleased to award the job to Monnet Ispat & Energy Ltd (MIEL) in association with CLI Corporation, the US for setting up of Hingula Washery at Balaram OCP, Hingula area," Coal India arm Mahanadi Coalfields said in a letter dated January 1 to MIEL.

The project is likely to be set up in 18 months from the date of signing of the contract, with an estimated cost of Rs 321.96 crore.

To improve the quality of coal, the government last month said that Coal India ( CIL) will set up 15 new washeries for both coking and non-coking categories.

The challenge was not quantity but quality of the fossil fuel, the government had said.

Out of the 15 new coal washeries, 9 are non-coking with a capacity of 94 million tonnes (MT) per year and six are coking washeries of capacity 18.6 MT per year.

Coal washing is a process of separation mainly based on difference in specific gravity of coal and associated impurities like shale, sand and stones to get relatively pure marketable coal without changing its physical properties.

(Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/)