Fuel guide

Coal or pellets?
The honest comparison.

Coal wins on some things, pellets on others. Here's what matters for your boiler.

Side by side

The numbers that matter

Imported coal

Wood pellets

Mustard husk, groundnut shell & cotton stalk pellets

Heat (GCV, kcal/kg)

4,200–5,500

4,000–4,600

3,600–4,100

Ash to clean

10–40%

0.5–3%

4–10%

Sulphur

0.3–1%

Near zero

Very low

Fuel cost per tonne of steam*

~₹1,900–2,000

~₹2,100–2,300

~₹1,800–1,900

Plus ash, labour, upkeep

+₹200–400

+₹60–120

+₹100–200

Price stability

Swings with imports & rupee

Local, steadier

Local, seasonal

Storage

Open yard

Dry & covered

GPCB / ESG

Growing pressure, fossil CO₂

Clean fuel, biogenic CO₂

*Indicative, at 10 kg/cm² steam and typical efficiency, Sept 2026 market prices. Your numbers depend on your boiler and fuel. Try the calculator.

Pros & cons

No fuel is perfect

Coal

Good at

Most heat per kg
Often cheapest per kcal
Stores in the open

Costs you

Heavy ash, daily cleaning and disposal
Sulphur, smoke and black dust
GPCB pressure, imported price swings

Biomass pellets

Good at

Very low ash, little clinker (wood)
Near-zero sulphur, clean handling
Uniform size for automatic feeding
Made locally, helps GPCB & ESG

Costs you

Less heat per kg than coal
Must be stored dry
Fuel-only cost can be a little higher

Stay on coal if…

you run a large coal-designed boiler with pollution control in place, and only price per kg matters. We'll tell you so.

Switch to pellets if…

ash, clinker or smoke is a daily headache, you have an automatic boiler, or GPCB and customers are pushing you to clean up.

Not sure? Test both.

Send us your current coal. We'll lab-test it free* and show its real steam cost next to our pellets.
*Transport of the sample extra.

Coal or pellets?The honest comparison.