The HRD & Skill Development section, in association with Coal-Rock Chemistry and Structure (CRCS) Section of Barwa Road Campus, conducted a Skill Development programme on ‘Fundamentals on Coal and Hydrocarbon Geosciences’ for MSc/PhD students under CSIR Integrated Skill Initiative from 16 to 17 December 2024 at CSIR-CIMFR, Digwadih and Barwa Road Campus, respectively, under the supervision mentorship and guidance of Prof. Arvind K Mishra, Director, CSIR-CIMFR and Mr Dilip Kumbhakar, Chief Scientist & PL/Nodal, Skill Development.

The course included a series of lectures on the importance of coal and hydrocarbons as energy resources and their fundamentals, focusing on the need for sustainable exploration. It covered coal geology, including formation processes, coal ranks, macerals, and petrographic properties, alongside an overview of industrial usage of coal. The segment on hydrocarbon geosciences addressed the formation of oil and gas, source rocks, migration, reservoirs, and exploration techniques like Rock-Eval pyrolysis for TOC analysis of coal and shales. The programme also involved hands-on training on coal petrology and the usage of Rock-Eval for hydrocarbon research/discovery.

The programme was attended by 30 MSc/PhD students from Vinoba Bhabe University, Ranchi University, and IIT (ISM) Dhanbad.