Chinese coal liquefaction plant opened

Press, 27 April 1983, Page 34

Chinese coal liquefaction plant opened

NZPA Peking China’s first continuous coal liquefaction unit, built with major funding from Japan, has begun working in Peking according to the official Xinhua news agency. Xinhua said major equipment for the unit, with a daily processing capacity of 100 kg was designed and manufactured by Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding, Co., Ltd, of Japan, and Japanese technicians helped build the unit. It said He Bingzhang, the president of the China Coal Society, commented at the opening ceremony, “our goal is to realise the industrialisation of coal liquefaction so that the process may benefit the people of both countries.”

Major funds for the unit came from the new Energy Development Organisation of Japan, Xinhua said, but it did not specify either the unit’s total cost or the

Japanese organisation’s contribution. It said China is negotiating with West Germany on a similar project and the United Nations has helped China train personnel and purchase instruments needed for coal liquefaction. At present, it said, liquefaction can turn one ton of quality coal into 300 kg of man-made petroleum, but the cost is high. Advantages of liquefaction, it said, are easier use and transportation and reduced air pollution compared with burning coal.