Coal to liquids boost

The company will be joined in the study by a joint-venture partner, China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering; while the project itself is also a joint venture, between South African CTL specialist Sasol and two local companies, China Shenhua Coal Liquefaction and Ningxia Luneng Energy and High Chemistry Investment.

The project will represent the first use of Sasol’s CTL technology outside South Africa.

‘CTL is a key part of the Chinese government’s energy strategy, and we are pleased to be involved at the early stages of its implementation and to be involved with other companies so well-placed to ensure its rapid and commercial development,’ comments Steve Davies, chairman and ceo of Foster Wheeler Energy, the company’s UK subsidiary.

For the past eight years, he adds, Foster Wheeler has worked with Sasol on optimising and commercialising a similar gas-to-liquids technology.

CTL involves three distinct processes: gasification of coal to synthesis gas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide); conversion of gas to liquids, via the Fischer-Tropsch process; and hydrocracking the converted products into fuel products.