China's largest coal company, Shenhua Group Corporation, signed a license agreement Tuesday in Washington with the US Hydrocarbon Technologies, Inc. for a direct coal liquefaction plant to be constructed in China.
Under the agreement, the U.S. company will provide technology license, process design and technical services to the Chinese company, which boasts a production capacity of nearly 60 million tons a year and coal reserves of more than 220 billion tons.
The plant, which is expected to start construction in early 2003, will be the first of its kind in the world that uses the U.S.company's advanced technology to turn coal into liquid fuels. The plant will have an ultimate capacity of 50,000 barrels per day of ultra-clean, low-sulfur diesel and gasoline produced from coal.
The technology of coal liquefaction is an energy alternative that can produce clean gasoline and diesel derived from coal and is good for coal-rich countries to lessen their dependence on imported oil and protect the environment.
( June 19, 2002)
