Coal India Improves Dispatch Quality with Automated Systems

Coal India Limited (CIL) is taking bold steps to ensure consistent coal quality by expanding its use of mechanised loading systems integrated with automated coal sampling technology. This step is a response of CIL to enhancing the reliability of coal supply in the country and overcoming the quality issues of consumers.

CIL is also investing in silo-based mechanized loading systems that have automatic mechanical samplers. These systems minimize manual operations during loading process, the sampling is uniform and the level of human error is limited. Due to this, determination of quality of coal becomes more accurate and reliable at different dispatch points.

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As per Fuel Supply Agreement, coal quality testing is done by Third Party Sampling Agencies (TPSAs) who have been approved by Power Finance Corporation Limited (PFCL). At present, the 11 TPSAs are used in loading points run by the subsidiaries of CIL and allow customers to select an agency that works with PFCL to ensure unbiased grading.

Through silos that loaded automated samplers, over 375 million tonnes of coal had been shipped by CIL by December FY 2026. CIL is encouraged by better performance and expects to increase this number to 80 percent in the current financial year, and silo infrastructure and first-mile connectivity initiatives are in progress.

By December, the grade conformity of coal has gone above 85 compared to 82 last year. Online coal quality analysis introduced in two subsidiaries also supplements real-time monitoring, which provides more transparency and confidence of consumers in coal quality analysis.