Sasol and Shenhua Contract Engineering Companies for China CTL Study
23 October 2008
The Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group and its partner Sasol contracted with Foster Wheeler International Corporation and Wuhuan Engineering Company to carry out the Feasibility Study for the 80,000 bbl/day coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant at the Ningdong Chemicals Base in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China. (Earlier post.)
Sasol and Shenhua had originally planned a second 80,000 bbl/day CTL plant (earlier post, but China is now only allowing two CTL projects to continue with further study and development in China—one of them being the Ningdong plant.
The Ningdong base is already well advanced with a number of operating plants in existence and many others under construction. Extensive infrastructure exists, including power and water supply as well as roads, rail, housing and maintenance facilities. The site for a CTL plant has been prepared and the surrounding area also contains massive coal reserves.
CTL factories in China and other places that have coal should all produce methanol. Such methanol can be converted into gasoline, DME and other liquid fuels as necessary. Methanol itself can replace many other fuels including cooking fuels. A careful process can extract ammonia and natural oils from the coal before it is gassified as was demonstrated by Ludwig Mond over a hundred years ago. Many CTL plants should be built; the use of methanol as a fuel can eliminate much pollution and actually make up for the loss of energy in the conversion process. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 25 October 2008 at 07:00 AM