A Bird's Eye View of Shenhua's CTL Plant in ORDOS, Inner Mongolia.

Source: China Daily

In our previous blog, we had mentioned that 6^th CTLtec Asia panellist Shenhua successfully launched production trials for China’s first Coal-to-Liquids facility in Inner Mongolia. So we are naturally excited to share an update on that landmark event for the coal conversion industry!

The trial operation was launched on 30 Dec 2008, and into its second day, the plant delivered on its promise & produced quality end products, namely diesel, naphtha and liquefied natural gas. The trial was stopped after it ran successfully for more than 300 hours, in the extreme cold conditions of the Chinese winter.

Zhang Jiming, manager of the Shenhua direct coal-to-liquids (CTL) project in Ordos said, "With the success of the trials, China officially becomes the first country in the world to have the core competence to build and run a direct coal-to-liquids project capable of producing 1 million tons of fuels annually".

He went on to add, “If the second trial operation, to be launched in summer, turns out to be a success, its production will be normalized and we will begin to expand this project to three times its current size,” Zhang said.

But with production expected to come on stream, and Shenhua’s ambitious plans to triple production capacity on the horizon, issues of water usage, and CO2 emissions must be addressed urgently.

So could Shenhua’s coal-to-liquids production come on stream by the 4^th quarter of 2009? And what is Shenhua doing to address environmental concerns?

Mr. Yue Guo, Deputy General Manager of Shenhua’s Coal Liquefaction Corp, and from Dr. Du Minghua, Deputy Director of China Shenhua CTL & CTC Research Institute will be addressing these questions at the 6^th CTLtec Asia conference on 3-4 March 2009 in Beijing.

If you don’t want to miss out on this golden chance to hear directly from Shenhua representatives, then do visit http://www.cmtevents.com/register.aspx?ev=090303& right away to confirm your participation at 6^th CTLtec!

11 Feb, 2009

Source: Treehugger.com

  Coal as a source of energy and fuel is still favored by coal-rich countries like China and India, where meeting demand is a key priority, and viable alternatives are being sought.

Coal-to-Liquids is now viewed as one of the options to supplement the growing need for fuels with cleaner synthetic diesel & gasoline.

Yet, the main barrier holding back widespread investment in Coal-to-Liquids technologies are its high emissions. In April 2007, the US Environmental Protection Agency estimated that using coal-to-liquids fuel will increase greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere by 119%!

The potential of coal conversion can only be truly exploited if the process is “cleaned up” to become environmentally friendly.

That’s why companies are now pairing coal to liquids production with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), as a genuine option for a sustainable & environmentally friendly future.

But controlling emissions is not the only challenge faced by the sector.

Coal-to-liquids plants also consume massive quantities of water—the second major concern. Some estimate as much as five gallons of water used for every gallon of liquid fuel produced. For a 22,000 barrel-per-day operation, that means 1.7 billion gallons of water per year.

As Coal-to-Liquid projects now scale up for commercial production, project owners and technology providers are faced with the pressing need to address these two major concerns, as well as increase the output efficiency.

The upcoming 6^th CTLtec Asia forum, to be held on 3-4 March 2009 in Beijing, directly addresses the challenges, and resulting opportunities and issues in the coal conversion sector. Part of the CTLtec series held since 2005, the conference will provide the CTL sector with a truly holistic view of the entire coal conversion value chain.

You will have the opportunity to hear from and network with Presidents, CEOs, VPs, Directors and other key decisions makers involved in Coal, Coal-to-Liquids, Coal Gasification & Liquefaction, Refinery Industrial Gas, Petrochemicals, Methanol, Olefins, Catalysts, EPC, Power & Utilities, Lubricant Companies, Gas Separation and Equipment & Technology industries.

The best part about the 6^th CTLtec Asia is that it will be followed by the CO2 Capture, Sequestration & Utilization forum. For the first time, the CTLtec Asia series is providing a comprehensive look at the Coal-to-Liquids sector while dissecting latest innovations and issues in carbon management for this heavy emissions industry.

If you are keen to participate as delegates, media partners, speakers, exhibitors and / or sponsors at the CTLtec Asia and CO2 Capture & Storage forums, please submit your registrations, enquiries and proposals to Ms. Nadia Albahar, Marketing Manager at +65 6346 9114 or email at nadia@cmtsp.com.sg.