Coal gasification and SMR — proven routes to low-carbon hydrogen with integrated CCS.
Pre-combustion capture involves converting a carbon-containing fuel — coal, natural gas, or biomass — into a hydrogen-rich synthesis gas (syngas) before combustion. The conversion process produces CO₂ at high partial pressure and concentration, making separation far easier and less energy-intensive than post-combustion scrubbing of dilute flue gas. The separated CO₂ is captured and stored, while the hydrogen-rich gas is used as a fuel or feedstock — producing what the industry terms "blue hydrogen" when the CO₂ capture rate exceeds 85–90%.
For coal, the conversion process is gasification — reacting coal with steam and oxygen at high temperature and pressure to produce syngas (H₂ + CO), followed by a water-gas shift reaction that converts CO to CO₂ + H₂. The resulting high-pressure CO₂ stream is then captured using physical solvents (Selexol, Rectisol) rather than chemical amines, with significantly lower energy consumption than post-combustion capture. Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plants incorporate this entire sequence into a power generation system with integral CCS.
For natural gas, steam methane reforming (SMR) with CCS is the dominant blue hydrogen production route — used in refinery hydrogen plants, ammonia synthesis, and methanol production. India's major refiners — IOCL, HPCL, BPCL — operate large-scale SMR units whose hydrogen production can be decarbonised with CCS, simultaneously addressing Scope 1 refinery emissions and producing certified low-carbon hydrogen for transport and industrial uses.
India's coal resource base, existing gasification heritage, and hydrogen economy ambitions make pre-combustion a strategically important capture pathway.
India has 315 billion tonnes of coal reserves — the fourth-largest in the world. Coal gasification with CCUS allows India to utilise this resource while meeting its climate commitments. The Ministry of Coal's gasification mission targets 100 MT of coal gasification by 2030.
India's National Hydrogen Mission targets 5 MT of green hydrogen by 2030. Blue hydrogen via SMR/ATR + CCS provides a lower-cost, near-term complement to green hydrogen — using existing infrastructure while renewable capacity scales up.
India's fertiliser sector consumes 6 MT/year of hydrogen for urea and ammonia synthesis — almost entirely from natural gas SMR. Blue hydrogen from SMR + CCS decarbonises this demand without requiring new production infrastructure or feedstock changes.
Norway's Sleipner project, while primarily a post-combustion operation, established the viability of offshore geological CO₂ storage that underpins pre-combustion CCS storage globally. More directly relevant is the In Salah CCS project in Algeria — a natural gas field where CO₂ is captured from natural gas processing (pre-combustion equivalent) and injected into a saline aquifer — which provided critical monitoring data for NCM's Indian storage assessments.
Shell's Quest CCS project in Alberta, Canada, captures CO₂ from steam methane reforming at an oil sands upgrader — a direct analogue for India's refinery SMR operations at IOCL's Panipat, HPCL's Vizag, and BPCL's Mumbai refineries. Quest's 1.2 MT/year capture rate and demonstrated capture efficiency of 80% provides the performance benchmark NCM uses for Indian refinery blue hydrogen feasibility assessments.
In Europe, the H2morrow project in Germany and the HyNet Northwest project in the UK are both SMR + CCS blue hydrogen projects demonstrating commercial-scale production. HyNet's integration of blue hydrogen with industrial fuel switching in the Mersey and Dee industrial cluster directly informs NCM's advisory on India's Hazira, Dahej, and Mundra industrial corridors in Gujarat.
CO₂ capture rate achievable in IGCC pre-combustion vs. ~85% in best-in-class PCC
India's coal reserves — fourth-largest globally, enabling large-scale coal gasification + CCS
Annual hydrogen demand from India's fertiliser sector — all SMR-based and decarbonisable with CCS
India's National Hydrogen Mission target — blue H₂ is the near-term complement to green
NCM's pre-combustion advisory begins with a process integration assessment — evaluating the existing fuel conversion infrastructure at the client's site (gasifier, reformer, syngas treatment, shift reactor) and identifying the optimal CO₂ capture integration point. For existing plants, this determines the retrofit complexity and incremental capital cost. For greenfield developments, it determines the optimal process configuration from the outset.
Blue hydrogen projects require an additional market development component — identifying offtakers for the low-carbon hydrogen produced, whether in the fertiliser sector, refinery fuel gas replacement, transport, or industrial heat applications. NCM maps the hydrogen demand landscape in each client's industrial region and identifies the commercial structures — hydrogen supply agreements, CBAM compliance certificates, carbon credits — that make the business case for blue hydrogen investment.
Our pre-combustion advisory integrates directly with NCM's Finance & Investment service — particularly in accessing ADB's Energy Transition Mechanism, IFC's climate investment facilities for coal transition projects, and the GCF's enhanced mitigation finance for blue hydrogen infrastructure in developing nations.
Whether you are a government body seeking policy advice, an industrial company facing CBAM exposure, or an investor seeking CCUS project opportunities — our team is ready to engage.