DNA
Islamabad, Aug 18: COMSTECH organized webinar on “Co-combustion of Coal and Biomass for Clean Electricity Generation”, which was delivered by Prof. Dr. Shahid Munir, chairperson of Punjab higher education commission.
Coordinator General, COMSTECH Prof. Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary welcomed the participants and introduced the speaker. He appreciated the contribution of Prof. Munir toward his field of expertise, academic excellence, and research productivity.
Prof. Munir said that the big challenge in the 21st century is to provide cheaper energy to everyone in environment friendly manner. He said that the energy need will increase by 300% by the end of the 21st century. He said that the electricity generation is linked with the environmental pollution. Prof. Munir mentioned that the global average surface temperature has increased by about 0.6 centigrade and this is projected to increase by 1.4 to 5.8 centigrade by 2100.
Prof. Munir said that Pakistan generates 61% electricity from thermal (oil, gas and coal), 24 % from hydel, 12% from nuclear, and 3% from renewable sources. He said that Pakistan is in the serious crisis of oil and gas shortages.
He said the coal is a game changer for Pakistan. Pakistan has coal reserves worth about USD 30 trillion, and this reserve can provide 100,000 MW of electricity for more than 500 years.
Prof. Munir said that co-combustion of coal with biomass is gaining popularity with the electric utilities producers because it is relatively cheaper, low risk, sustainable, and renewable way of generating green power in utility plants.
Prof. Dr. Shahid Munir has PhD degree from University of Leeds, UK. His area of research is biomass-coal co-combustion, and his research work has been published in international and national journals of high impact factor.
More than 100 participants joined the webinar online from Pakistan and other different OIC member states.
