Posted on 12/15/2006 11:49:36 AM PST by Red Badger
China will invest more than one trillion yuan (US$128 billion) to develop alternative coal-based synthetic fuels to ease the country’s dependence on oil imports, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
The project aims to produce 30 million tons of liquefied coal and 20 million tons of dimethyl ether (DME) by 2020. Coal-to-olefin (CTO) output is expected to hit 8 million tons and coal methanol to reach 66 million tons.
The money will also be spent on building seven industrial bases nationwide to produce coal-based energy source on a massive scale, including the biggest alternative fuel production base in the lower reaches of the Yellow River.
Xinjiang is projected to produce 10 million tons of liquefied coal, and the eastern region of Inner Mongolia will become the major methanol supplier, with an annual capacity of 10 million tons.
A pipeline, at a cost of five billion yuan, will be built to transport 10 million tons of methanol a year from Inner Mongolia to the northeastern Liaoning province.
In July 2006, the Chinese government determined that it would not approve coal liquefaction (Coal-to-Liquids) projects with an annual production capacity of less than three million tons; coal to methanol or dimethyl ether (DME) projects of less than one million tons; and coal-to-alkene projects of less than 600,000 tons, according to a circular released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)
We should be doing that too.
On a sorta related note...
Absolutely logical thing to do - for those who have coal. Way better than depending for one's supplies on putinoids or ME types - now or in the future. Australia, Canada, Poland, Ukraine, United States, Western Europe [listed alphabetically] would do well by doing something similar.
Given the Chi-Com record for mine safety there should be one dead miner for every billion spent.
The chinese aren't hostage to the ethanol nutcases so they're doing what makes sense. I noticed that they're not going for much (8 million tons) of the heavier Fischer-Tropf fuels
Odd. You'd think that in a Worker's Paradise™, miners would have a strong union and world-class safety standards.
Strange.
Hahaha good one. Dontcha know the Worker's Paradise™ rules only apply to Capitalists?
China is the third largest ethanol producer in the world.
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