Oil-major Shell and China’s Tianjin Bohai Chemical Industry Corp have signed a clean coal technology transfer agreement.
Shell Research signed the licence for its coal gasification technology with one of China’s leading major soda and ammonium chloride manufacturers which plans to build a coal gasification plant at a new industrial park at Lingang, Tianjin, and use the synthetic gas produced to manufacture methanol, ammonia and butyl alcohol. The deal marks the 14th licence signed in China for Shell’s coal gasification technology, which has also been licensed in China to manufacture fertilisers, hydrogen and methanol.
Lim Haw Kuang, executive chairman of Shell Companies in China, said: “With China dependent on coal for 70% of its primary energy needs, clean coal technology is critical to help the country supply the energy it needs to fuel its rapid growth in a sustainable way.”
In addition, Shell has a 50:50 joint venture with Sinopec in Yueyang, Hunan, to build a 2,000 tonne a day coal gasification plant to supply synthetic gas as feedstock to the neighbouring Sinopec Baling Fertiliser Plant.