ARTICLE IN PRESS

Energy Policy 38 (2010) 21232130

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Energy Policy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol

Clean coal technology development in China

Wenying Chen , Ruina Xu
Energy, Environment, and Economy (3E) Research Institute, Tsinghua University, China

a r t i c l e in fo
Article history: Received 11 May 2009 Accepted 1 June 2009 Available online 21 June 2009 Keywords: China Clean coal technology Sustainable development

abstract
Coal is found in huge amounts throughout the world and is expected to play a crucial role as an abundant energy source. However, one critical issue in promoting coal utilization is controlling environmental pollution. Clean coal technologies are needed to utilize coal in an environmentally acceptable way and to improve coal utilization efciency. This paper describes coals role in Chinas energy system and the environmental issues related to coal use. Coal is responsible for 90% of the SO2 emissions, 70% of the dust emissions, 67% of the NOx emissions, and 70% of the CO2 emissions. But as the most abundant energy resource, it will continue to be the dominant energy supply for a long time. Therefore, the development and deployment of clean coal technologies are crucial to promote sustainable development in China. Clean coal technologies currently being developed in China are described including high efciency combustion and advanced power generation technologies, coal transformation technologies, IGCC (integrated gasication combined cycle) and carbon capture and storage (CCS). Although China only recently began developing clean coal technologies, there have been many successes. Most recent orders of coal-red power plants are units larger than 600 MW and new orders for supercritical and ultra supercritical systems are increasing rapidly. Many national research programs, industrial research programs and international collaboration projects have been launched to develop on IGCC and CCS systems in China. Finally, suggestions are given on how to further promote clean coal technologies in China. & 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Chinas coal dominant energy system 1.1. Coal: the most abundant fossil energy resource Chinas coal resources are estimated to be 5570 billion tons with 1018 billion tons of proven reserves and 4552 billion tons of forecasted reserves. In 2005, Chinas proven recoverable reserves of coal were 114.5 billion tons or 82 billion tons of coal equivalent (tce), 12.6% of the world total. Chinas proven recoverable reserves of oil and gas were only 2200 million tons (3.14 Btce) and 2350 billion cubic meters (3.13 Btce), 1.3% and 1.2% of the world total (British Petroleum, 2006). The total proven recoverable reserves for oil and gas are only 7.75% that of coal. 1.2. Coal provides around 70% of the total primary energy consumption The primary energy production in China increased steadily from 637 Mtce in 1980 to 1326 Mtce in 1996, dropped to 1243 Mtce by 1998, and then began to rebound and hit 2354 Mtce
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 62772756; fax: +86 10 62771150.

E-mail address: chenwy@tsinghua.edu.cn (W. Chen). 0301-4215/$ - see front matter & 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2009.06.003

by 2007 (China Statistics Bureau, 2008), as displayed in Fig. 1. Although common complain about coal include its inconvenience, low efciency and high pollution, coal is still dominant in Chinas energy scheme and coal is the primary energy source at about 75% from 1990 to 1997. Coal usage declined to about 72% from 1998 to 2002, but then recovered to 75% in 2003 and reached 76.6% in 2007 with production of 1804 Mtce. Chinas coal production in 2005 ranked number one in the world with 38.4% of the worlds total (British Petroleum, 2006). The primary energy consumption increased continually from 603 Mtce in 1980 to 1389 Mtce in 1996, dropped to 1322 Mtce by 1998, and then grew quickly to 2656 Mtce by 2007 (China Statistics Bureau, 2008) as illustrated in Fig. 2. The coal share of the total primary energy consumption was 7476% from 1982 to 1996, but declined to 71.7% in 1997 and then stayed between 66% and 70% from 1998 to 2007. In 2005, China consumed 1528 Mtce of coal, ranking number one in the world with 36.9% of the world total (IEA, 2007a). The percentage of coal in Chinas total primary energy consumption was 68.7%, close to the percentage of oil and gas in the worlds total primary energy consumption (59.6%). The proportion of oil and gas in Chinas total primary energy consumption was only 24%, approximately equal to coals share in the worlds total primary energy consumption (27.7%).

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Primary Energy Production (Mtce)

Coal 2000 1500 1000 500

Oil

NG Hydro,nuclear & wind

Coal consumption for power supply (gce/kWh)

2500

500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2020 Japan 2000

0 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007
Fig. 1. Chinas Primary Energy Production from 1980 to 2007.

Fig. 4. Coal consumption per kW h electricity.

800 Primary Energy Consumption (Mtce)

Consumption (Mtce)

3000 Coal 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007
Fig. 2. Chinas primary energy consumption from 1980 to 2007.

Oil

NG Hydro, nuclear & wind

600 500 400 300 200 100 0

50 40 30 20 10 0

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Fig. 5. Coal Consumption and Percentage in the total nal energy consumption from 1991 to 2005.

Coal used for power supply (Mtce)

800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

60
Coal used for power supply Share

50 Share (%) 40 30 20 10 0

in 1990 and further to 377 gce/kW h in 2005. The annual decline averaged as high as 3.33 gce/kW h from 1990 to 2005, as displayed in Fig. 4. The energy consumption per kW h is expected to drop further to 360 gce/kW h by 2010 and 320 gce/kW h by 2020 (NDRC, 2007). The main contribution to the decrease is the governments policy to develop supercritical (SC) or ultra supercritical (USC) units with unit capacities over 600 MW and large combined cycle units, to develop cogeneration power plants, to retrot medium-sized stations with capacities ranging from 100 to 300 MW per unit, and to gradually close small stations with capacities less than 100 MW. The percentage of thermal power generation stations with unit capacities larger than 100 MW increased from 62.5% in 1995 to 72.4% in 2005 and it is expected that the share of thermal power plants with unit capacities above 300 MW will increase from 45.5% in 2005 to over 60% in 2010. 1.4. Coal consumption in end-use demand sectors

Fig. 3. Coal consumption for power and the % of coal used for power in the total coal consumption.

1.3. Power sector consumed nearly half of the coal Chinas total installed power capacity increased from 66 GW in 1980 to 319 GW in 2000. It has then more than doubled from 2000 to 2007 with 56.3 GW new capacity added annually on average, resulting in a total of 713 GW in 2007. Since 1990, the percentage of thermal power from coal has remained at about 75% of the total while the percentage of electricity generated from coal has remained at 8083%. Coal-red power plants accounted for over 97% in the total thermal power capacity. Coal consumption for power has increased from 196 Mtce in 1991 to 684 Mtce in 2005, and the ratio of coal used for power generation relative to the total coal consumption increased from 26.0% to 44.6% in the same period (China Statistics Bureau, 1998, 2001, 2006, 2007), as shown in Fig. 3. The thermal power generation efciency has increased signicantly in the last two decades with the energy consumption per kW h decreasing from 448 gce/kW h in 1980 to 427 gce/kW h

Although Chinas coal consumption increased from 755 Mtce in 1991 to 1528 Mtce by 2005, coal used in end-use sectors remained in the range of 300520 Mtce in the same period. The share of coal in the total nal energy consumption decreased from 56.9% in 1991 to 29.8% in 2005 (China Statistics Bureau, 1998, 2001, 2006, 2007), as indicated in Fig. 5. Taking into account coke, the number dropped from 65.7% in 1991 to 43.9% in 2005. In contrast, OECD countries consumed much more energy from the clean energy sources, oil, gas and electricity, than from coal with the share of coal in the total nal energy consumption being only 3% in 2005 (IEA, 2007b). The total energy consumption by sector did not experience as much change as the fuel mix. From 1991 to 2005, the share of energy consumption in both the agriculture and commercial sectors remained around 5%, the industrial sector increased from 67% to 70%, the transportation sector increased from 5% to 10%, while residential dropped from 18% to 10%. The share of coal in each end use sectors nal energy consumption declined steadily

Share in total final energy consumption (%)

700

Coal Coal & Coke Coal share Coal & coke share

70 60

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100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Agriculture Industry

2500 Emissions(10 ktons)

1991 2000 1995 2005

SO2 Soot

2000 1500 1000 500 0

Coal share (%)

Transportation Commercial

Residential

1981 1985 1990 1995 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2010

Fig. 6. Coal share in each end-use sectors total nal energy consumption.

Fig. 7. SO2 and Soot Emissions from 1981 to 2005.

from 1991 to 2005 from 42.8% to 22.7% for agriculture, 52.1% to 24.4% for industry, 35.3% to 3.9% for transportation, 52.8% to 9.1% for commercial, and 86.4% to 27.3% for residential, as illustrated in Fig. 6. Most of the coal was consumed in the industrial sector. In 2005, industry consumed 78.5% of the total coal consumed. There were about 500 thousand small and medium size industrial boilers with unit capacities of only 2.5 t/h and operating efciencies of about 65%. Ninety percent of these boilers were coal-red with an annual coal consumption of 350400 million tons (250290 Mtce), and coal saving potentials estimated to be around 70 million tons (50 Mtce) annually. Clean coal technologies, such as circulating uidized beds, have been applied to retrot small and medium size coal-red industrial boilers and kilns, with expected efciency improvements of 5% for boilers and 2% for kilns with annual coal savings of 25 million tons for boilers and 10 million tons for kilns from 2005 to 2010 (NDRC, 2007). The residential sector is the second largest coal consumer, after the industrial sector. The residential sector consumed 64 Mtce in 2005, 14% of the total coal consumption. The commercial sector is the third largest coal consumer, sharing 4% of the total nal coal consumption. China should adopt a clean urban energy strategy by increasing electricity consumption with increased use of natural gas and coal gas in the residential and commercial sectors. At the same time, China should encourage development of cogeneration power plants and centralized boilers to replace small, scattered boilers for space heating. The district heating rate is expected to increase from 30% in 2005 to 40% by 2010 with 40 GW new cogeneration plants for space heating with annual coal savings reaching 25 Mtce (NDRC, 2007).

1500 emission 1200 intensity

2.5 Intensity/(KgC/2000US$

Carbon emission/MtC

900

1.5

600

300 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

0.5

Fig. 8. Carbon emissions and carbon intensity (Exchange Rate) from 1980 to 2005.

2. Coal: the major source of local air pollution and carbon emissions 2.1. Local air pollution

Soot emissions from the power sector have been effectively controlled with a 32% reduction in 2005 compared to 1980 due to the popularization of high-efciency electric dust removal systems with removal efciencies as high as 99.6%. The power sector has contributed to one third of Chinas NOx emissions, but low-NOx emission systems have been required in newly built, expanded or retrotted power plants since 2004. The power sector also has accounted for about half of the national SO2 emissions. By the end of 2005, the capacity of power plants with Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) systems reached 53 GW with Chinas average SO2 emissions per kW h 40% less than in 1990. The average sulfur removal rate was 92.5% with SO2 emission reductions of 2.3 million tons in 2005. The Chinese government has set the SO2 emissions target as 22.95 million tons in 2010, 10% less emissions than in 2005. To achieve this goal, more than 200 GW of power plants using FGD systems were under construction (including contracts signed) in 2005.

2.2. Carbon emissions Chinas total SO2 emissions increased from 14 million tons in 1981 to 25.49 million tons in 2005, while soot emissions decreased from 14.5 million tons to 11.82 million tons (China Environment Protection Agency, 2008), as shown in Fig. 7. Among the cities monitored, only 60.3% reached the national ambient air quality standard grade II in 2005. Acid rain effects have extended from the Southwest to south of the Yangtse River to form four major acid rain control areas, accounting for 3040% of the national area. Pollution has caused severe ecological damage as well as severely affected peoples health. Direct costs amounted to about 3% of GDP, but the World Bank warned pollution could cost 13% of GDP by 2020. Most air pollution results from coal combustion and coal is the source of 90% of the SO2 emissions, 70% of the dust emissions and 67% of the NOx emissions. Chinas growing primary energy consumption and the nearly constant coal-dominated structure has caused its carbon emissions to increase by 5.2% annually, from 387 MtC in 1980 to 1376 MtC in 2005 (Chen, 2005; Chen et al., 2007), 18.6% of the world total, as displayed in Fig. 8. Coal is the source of about 70% of the CO2 emissions. However, owing to structural adjustments in the economy, industry and industrial products, as well as energy efciency improvements and changes to low- and non-carbon energy sources, Chinas carbon emissions per unit GDP (exchange rate) decreased dramatically from 2.34 KgC/US$2000 in 1980 to 0.80 KgC/US$2000 in 2005, an annual decrease of 4.63% (Chen and Wu, 2004; Chen, 2005; Chen et al., 2007). However, this is still much higher than other countries, about 5 times higher than

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0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 China OECD World
Carbon intensity (exchenge rate) Carbon emission per capita

Carbon intensity (KgC/2000 US$)

3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0

Carbon intensity (PPP)

Fig. 9. Comparison of per capital carbon emissions and carbon intensity.

OECD countries and 2.5 times higher than the world average for the year 2005 (IEA, 2007c), as displayed in Fig. 9. However, the gap is considerably less in terms of PPP (Purchasing Power Parity). Chinas per capita carbon emissions increased by 4.03% per year from 1980 to 2005, reaching 1.05 tC per capita in 2005. Although, this was still only 1 3 of OECD countries, it was close to the world average (1.05 tC per capita). Driven mainly by population expansion, economic growth, urbanization and a booming transportation sector, Chinas future carbon emissions will continue to increase (Chen, 2005; Chen et al., 2007). China is facing heavier and heavier pressure such as the voluntary commitment of greenhouse gases reduction from developed countries in international negotiations on global climate change. To reduce energy-related CO2 emissions as well as to improve the local environment, China must adopt a sustainable energy development strategy, which emphasizes changes in the energy consumption structure with the development of new sources such as natural gas, hydropower, wind energy, nuclear energy, and solar energy. Energy conservation should also be emphasized through better energy management, improved energy utilization efciencies, popularization of advanced technologies, promoting renovation with energy-saving technologies, and limiting the development of energy intensive industries using inefcient technologies (Chen and Wu, 2004). Coal, the most abundant energy resource, will continue to be dominant in Chinas energy scheme for a very long time. Therefore, sustainable development requires the development and deployment of clean coal technologies such as supercritical and ultra-supercritical boilers, circulating uidized bed combustion, and integrated gasication combined cycles. In addition, R&D and demonstration on carbon capture and storage technologies should also be encouraged (Chen et al., 2006).

Per capita emission (tC/cap)

3.5

program linked decommissioning of inefcient small units with the commissioning of efcient, large power projects. The program also required installation of FGD systems on all new coal power projects and accelerated desulphurization retrots to all coal based generating units larger than 135 MW. This program intends to phase out most of the existing 114 GW of small units by decommissioning about 50% of these inefcient small units by 2010. The replacement of the existing 114 GW of small units in China with 300 MW class subcritical units will reduce coal usage by 90 Mtce and cut emissions of SO2 by 1.8 million tons and CO2 by 220 Mt. These reductions would be higher if they were replaced by 600 or 1000 MW units. The program of substituting large units for small units and other government policies to develop supercritical or ultrasupercritical units with capacities over 600 MW and large combined cycle units contributed greatly to reducing the energy consumption per kW h electricity supply in Fig. 4. The development and status of the key high efciency combustion and advanced power generation technologies such as supercritical and ultra-supercritical technologies, circulating uidized beds and ue gas desulphurization and NOx removal technologies will be introduced in this section.

3. Current status and development of clean coal technologies in China 3.1. High efciency combustion and advanced power generation technologies Recognizing that resources and the environment are major constraints to Chinas further development, the Chinese government is attaching great importance to energy conservation as fundamental national policy. In the 11th Five-year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (20062010), the government stipulated a targeted 20% reduction in the energy consumption per unit GDP in 2010 relative to that in 2005 and a 10% reduction in SO2 emissions. To meet the national target while continuing the robust development of Chinas power industry, a program was implemented to replace small units with large units in 2007. The

3.1.1. Supercritical and ultra-supercritical systems Research on supercritical and ultra-supercritical systems in China started relatively late but has developed rapidly in recent years. More than 150 supercritical or ultra-supercritical units with capacities of 600 MW or more have been put into operation or are under construction (Deng, 2008). The rst application of supercritical boilers in China was in 1992 with the start up of 2 600 MW units at Shidongkou. The two units belong to the Shanghai Shidongkou Second Power Plant, operated by the China Huaneng Group which is Chinas largest power producer. The units were imported from Switzerland and the USA. Their coal consumption rate was 311 gce/kW h and their generation efciency was 39.5% in 2000. In December 2004, the supercritical unit at China Huaneng Groups Qinbei Power Plant in Henan Province was put into operation as the rst domestically made 600 MW supercritical unit in China. Localization of the technology signicantly reduced the cost with Qinbeis cost only about 4000 RMB/KW. Then, from 2004 to 2007, about 123.6 GW of 600 MW supercritical units were installed. China Huaneng Groups Yuhuan power plant (4 1000 MW) in Zhejiang Province is Chinas rst commercially operated power plant using domestically made 1000 MW ultra-supercritical pressure boilers. Units 1 and 2 went on line on 28th November, 2006, unit 3 in 2007, with unit 4 in 2008. When unit 4 is working, the site will generate 22 billion kW h of electricity per year. The generation efciency of the Yuhuan power plant is 45% and the coal consumption per kW h is 285.6 gce/kW h which is 80.4 gce/kW h less than the national average in 2006. There are 2 1000 MW ultra-supercritical units at China Huadian Corporations Zouxian power plant in Shandong Province with unit 1 put into operation on 4th December, 2006 and unit 2 on 5th July, 2007. The power generation efciency of the Zouxian power plant is 45% and the gross coal consumption rate is 272.9, 66.1 gce/kW h less than the national average in 2006 (339 gce/kW h). These two plants both utilize high-efciency dust removal and desulphurization with operating conditions reaching international standards. By 2010 supercritical and ultra-supercritical units will account for over 40% of the total newly built thermal power generating units. From 2010 to 2020, new power plants with unit capacities of 600 MW and more will all be required to be supercritical and about half of the newly built power generating units will be

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ultra-supercritical. Consequently, supercritical units will account over 15% of the total power capacity by 2010 and 30% by 2020 (Huang, 2008).

3.1.2. Circulating uidized beds The uidized bed combustion process facilitates power plants ring a wide range of fuels while meeting stringent pollutant emission requirements. Currently, the ease of scale-up, low emissions capabilities and fuel exibility make circulating uidized beds (CFB) a serious option in China for mid-sized (300450 MW) and larger (400600 MW) utility units. In 2006, the rst 210 MW CFB 1025 t/h boiler was successfully put into commercial operation in Jiangxi. A major milestone in the process of CFB technology transfer is the Baima project, Chinas rst large scale CFB. The Baima plant belongs to the Sichuan Baima CFB Demonstration Power Plant Co Ltd, whose main shareholders are the State Power Grid and the Sichuan Bashu Electric Power Development company. This plant is now in operation as a 300 MW demonstration plant, with the specic purpose of proving Alstoms capability to successfully design and build large CFB boilers in China. Alstom supplied the CFB in cooperation with Dongfang Boiler, China, with the engineering done in France and the manufacturing being shared between Alstom and the Dongfang facilities (Morin, 2003). There are also many research institutes and companies researching CFB technologies, including Tsinghua University, the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sichuan Boiler Works, Hangzhou Boiler Works, Jinan Boiler Works and Wuxi Boiler Works. With support from the State Economic and Trade Committee of China (SETCC), Tsinghua University developed and patented an advanced water-cooled square cyclone featuring a curved inlet to accelerate particles to increase the separation efciency with boilers having capacities of 75 and 150 t/h (Lu et al., 2007). There are several 300 MW CFB units in operation, including at the China Huaneng Groups Kaiyuan power plant consisting of two lignite-fueled 300 MW CFBs, China Datang Groups Honghe power plant and China Huadian Groups Xunjiansi power plant. In addition there are many other 300 MW CFB projects in China planned for implementation on a co-production or license basis, with substantial opportunities for further development in the CFB eld. China is currently building a 600 MW CFB plant that, if successful, would be the largest CFB plant in the world.

221 projects, which will reduce SO2 emissions by 4.9 million tons of (China Desulphurization Industry Report, 20072008). At present, the capital and operating costs of high-efciency NOx removal technologies is relatively high. Several selective catalytic reduction (SCR) demonstration projects are in operation with about 6000 MW of SCR units under construction. Based on the development trends, experts estimate that the installation rate of SCR systems for power generation will reach 10% in 2010, 30% in 2020 and 50% in 2030, while the installation rate of FGD systems will reach 80% in 2010, 90% in 2020 and 95% in 2030. 3.2. Coal transformation 3.2.1. Gasication Gasication is a process that converts carbonaceous materials, such as coal, petroleum, or biomass, into carbon monoxide and hydrogen by reaction of the raw material at high temperatures with a controlled amount of oxygen and/or steam. Gasication is a very efcient method for extracting energy from many different types of organic materials and also has applications as a clean waste disposal technique. Therefore, gasication is one of the most important links among the coal transformation technologies. The primary gasication technologies being developed in China are ash agglomerating uidized bed coal gasication, nonslag and slag two-stage entrained ow bed coal gasication, twostage dry feed entrained ow bed coal gasication, coal-water slurry gasication with opposed multi-burners, and coal-water slurry gasication with multiple materials. The multi-nozzle striking ow coal slurry-feed gasier was successfully developed by Huadong Science and Technology University, with a 1150 t/d gasier put into operation in October 2005. An intermediate test facility with a 36 t/d 2-stage dry-feed pressurized gasication plant has been built by the Xian Thermal Power Research Institute, with a preliminary design of a 1000 t/d gasier now completed. 19 Texaco gasiers are in service in China with 12 Shell gasiers under construction or put into service in 2006. 3.2.2. Liquefaction A steadily increasing demand for oil has made China a net oil importer since 1993, with oil imports increasing each year to 164 million tons by 2006, 47% of Chinas domestic oil consumption, with the oil mainly coming from the Middle East. The oil demand is expected to increase considerably due to signicant growth of the energy consumption in the transportation sector, with signicant growth of highway transport and dramatic growth of car usage. For energy security reasons, large oil imports should be avoided and China should use its most abundant resource, coal, to develop alternative transportation fuels including methanol, DME (dimethyl ether), and hydrogen (Chen and Wu, 2004). China has made great progress on coal liquefaction technology in recent years. The China Coal Research Institute, Shenhua Group Cooperation Limited, Shanxi Coal Chemistry Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Yankuang Group have developed direct or indirect coal liquefaction technologies. The core coal liquefaction technologies have been mastered and are ready for industrialization. Demonstration projects by the Shenhua Group Cooperation Limited and Yitai BIHI-TECH Co., LTD in Ordos, Inner Mongolia have been in good condition since 2004. Shenhua Group Cooperation Limited will nish their rst production line of 1.08 million tons of direct oil production and Yitai BIHI-TECH Co., LTD will nish their rst production line of 0.16 million tons of indirect oil production by the end of 2007. Both production lines begin commercial operation in 2008.

3.1.3. Flue gas desulphurization and NOx removal In 2005, there were more than 100 desulphurization companies operating in China with more than 40 desulphurization companies having nished projects with capacities over 200 MW. Thus, the market has extensive competition. In addition, the localization rate of desulphurization equipment is constantly increasing. The capital cost of desulphurization has fallen from 1000 RMB/kW in the 1990s to about 200 RMB/kW now. At the end of 2006, coal-red power generation units with FGD systems accounted for 30% of the total installed thermal capacity. Since then about 40% of the new units have been tted with FGD systems. In 2007, the total capacity of contracted projects by desulphurization companies was 374 GW, of which 208 GW had been put into operation. At the end of March, 2007, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Environment Protection jointly issued the 11th Five-Year Plan for SO2 Pollution Control for Existing Coal-red Power Plants. According to this plan, Chinas existing coal-red power plants are required to install ue gas desulphurization units with a total capacity of 137 GW, covering

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Demonstration projects will be built by the Yankuang Group, Luan Mining Group, and others. The Institute of Coal Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is providing technical support to the Shenhua Group, the Yitai BIHI-TECH Co. and the Luan Mining Group (China Securities News, 2007). Methanol is an important chemical feedstock that can also be used as an alternative liquid fuel to oil. Not only does it offer an alternative vehicle fuel, but it can also be used as a feedstock for dimethylether (DME), methanol-to-olens (MTO) or methanol-topropylene (MTP) plants. In 2006, total methanol consumption in China was around 8.86 Mt, of which around 65% was produced from coal. About 0.6 Mt/a of DME is produced from methanol and demonstration plants for MTO/MTP are planned by the government (Chen et al., 2008a).

3.3. Integrated gasication combined cycle (IGCC) The IGCC technology has been under development since the 1960s worldwide. The rst IGCC demonstration power plant was built in the 1980s. There are now 18 IGCC power plants with a total capacity of 4200 MW in operation and 12 IGCC power plants with a total capacity of 3800 MW under construction worldwide. In 2006, the IGCC was selected as one of the key technologies for future power generation in China according to the National Program for Medium-to-Long-Term Scientic and Technological Development (20062010) issued by the State Council of China. Chinas overall goal is to form clusters of these advanced coal technologies and support the development of Chinas energy equipment manufacturing industry to achieve efcient, clean, and affordable use of coal. China aims to develop domestic IGCC plants by importing, understanding and using foreign technology, with increased localization. 300 and 400 MW IGCC power units are preferred based on the current gas turbine capacity. Since 1994, eleven domestic research institutes have started to studies of the IGCC technical feasibility under the IGCC research leadership group. These institutes are cooperating with foreign companies, such as Texaco/General Electric (GE), Shell, and the Asian Development Bank to develop this technology. Domestic electric power design institutes now have the ability to produce general designs of IGCC power projects, Combined Cycle Islands,

and the balance of the plant control and instrumentation system. F class gas turbine power plants designed by domestic power design institutes have been put into service. The Shanghai Boiler Works, the Dalian Jinzhong Works and others can manufacture the outside shell of the gasier with fabrication facilities for 2000 t/d gasiers. The internal parts of the gasier are still manufactured abroad and then assembled in China. However, domestic manufacturers are now capable of fabricating the internal parts from the fabrication drawings. The y ash lters can be made by the Dalian Jizhong Co. Ltd. Since 2003 China has imported manufacturing for E class and F class gas turbines from GE, MHI (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Ltd.) and Siemens. China is now beginning research and development of low heating value gas turbines. The 5 104 Nm3/h air separation units can be made domestically with a 6 104 Nm3/h air separation unit being designed and fabricated in China. The Huaneng Group launched the GreenGen project in Haror Industrial Park, Tanggu District, Tianjin, China, the rst near-zerocarbon-emission IGCC power plant in China. This project has three stages. The rst stage from 2006 to 2009 is to develop a 250 MW IGCC power plant and to further investigate the polygeneration options, especially pilot testing of hydrogen production and fuel cell power generation. The main projects are the coal gasier with a processing capacity of 2000 tons per day, the gas and steam turbine combined cycle consisting of a 171 MW gas turbine, a 110 MW steam turbine, a waste heat boiler, and a syngas purication system with a processing capacity of 160,739 m3/h. The second stage from 20102012 will improve the IGCC and polygeneration systems, build a 400 MW IGCC plant, optimize the gasication technology and develop an H2 and CO2 separation system. The third stage from 20132015 will build a 400 MW GreenGen demonstration plant including H2 production and fuel cell and H2 power generation with CCS, operating the plant with near zero carbon emissions to prove the economic viability of the GreenGen plant to prepare for commercialization. Key technology innovations in the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences helped the Yankuang company build the rst coal gasication-based polygeneration system with an output of 60 MW and 240 thousands tons of methanol per year. This demonstration project with an investment cost of 1.58 billion RMB went into operation in April,

Fig. 10. Location of planned IGCC projects.

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Table 1 Cost comparison of different coal-red power generation systems in China. Unit type Capacity (MW) Unit cost (RMB/kW) Reference electricity price (RMB/MW h) PC+FGD 300 4596 352.7 SC+FGD 600 3919 321.0 USC+FGD 1000 3924 310.7 IGCC 400 Class 7751 504 CFB 300 4799 354.8

2006, and its success has laid the foundation for long-term development of IGCC and polygeneration systems in China. The China Huadian Corporation will build a 200 MW Banshan IGCC power plant in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Dongguan Electricity and the Chemicals Industry Co., Ltd. will build a 200 MW IGCC power plant and retrot a 120 MW combined cycle power plant to use IGCC in Dongguan, Guangdong province. In addition there are many other IGCC projects in China planned for implementation. The locations of these IGCC projects are shown in Fig. 10. The costs of the various coal-red power generation methods in China are listed in Table 1 (Electric Power Planning and Design Institute, 2006). Here, the standard coal price is assumed to be RMB 430/t and the annual operating time is 5000 h. The table indicates that the IGCC unit cost is still much higher than that of other kinds of coal-red power generation plants. However, IGCC offers a similar efciency to that of USC plants. The USC plants are cheaper, but IGCC offers better air pollution control, lower water demand, reduced solid waste, the possibility for polygeneration, and lower costs to add CO2 capture (to a new plant). According to the IPCC special report on CCS and other publications, with the current technology, the cost of electricity from an IGCC plant with carbon capture appears to be less than from a normal pulverized coal (PC) plant with carbon capture (comparing new plants built from the outset to do this). The cost per ton of avoided CO2 emissions is likewise lower for IGCC systems with carbon capture and storage.

3.4.2. Chinas industrial development of CCS Some Chinese companies have already started their own CCS research. PetroChina, the largest oil and gas producer and distributor in China, which plays a dominant role in the Chinese oil and gas industry, has operated Chinas rst CO2 storage and usage project at the Jilin Oil Field since 2006. The primary goal of this project is to develop the key technologies for the exploitation of CO2-containing natural gas, CO2 storage and utilization in the Jilin oil eld and to provide technical support for CO2 storage and enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The China Huaneng Group on 16th July, 2008 put into operation in Beijing a post-combustion carbon capture facility at their Beijing thermal power plant that has successfully captured carbon with a purity of 99.99%. The pilot project is capable of recovering more than 85% of the carbon dioxide from the power plant ue gases and can, thus, trap 3000 tons of CO2 annually. The project was designed and developed by the Xian Thermal Power Research Institute, with all of its equipment domestically made. The system uses a chemical solution (MEA) to absorb and separate carbon dioxide from fuel gases at high temperatures. The solution can be recycled for reuse. Moreover, China Huaneng Group and Shanghai Electric Company set Greenhouse Gas Reduction Research Center in December, 2008. The center will build 2 660 MW USC units with CO2 capture at Shanghai Shidongkou Power Plant.

3.4. Carbon capture and storage technology Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is one of the potentially most important technological options to address climate change in the future. Many national research programs, industrial projects and international projects have been launched to develop CCS in China.

3.4.1. National science and technology programs for CCS in China There are three major national science and technology programs in China sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST): the National Key Technology R&D Program, the National Basic Research Program (973 Program), and the National High-tech R&D Program (863 Program). The National Key Technology R&D Program has supported strategic studies on CCS with emphasis placed on the applicability of CCS in China and its impact on energy systems and GHG emissions. Four key projects are been implemented under the 973 Program, including research on enhanced oil recovery, basic research on polygeneration systems with syngas co-production from coal gas and coke oven gas, basic research on high efciency catalytic reforming of natural gas and syngas, and research on thermal-to-power conversion processes in gas turbines. Three research areas have been funded by 863 Program, carbon capture absorption, carbon capture adsorption, and carbon storage technologies. Also, MOST is organizing experts to design a Program for CCS Technology Development in China.

3.4.3. International partnerships on CCS China is one of the initial members of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) and MOST actively represents China within this forum. The EU-China Joint Declaration on Climate Change was published at the EU-China Summit held in September, 2005. The declaration stated that we will aim to achieve the following co-operation goals by 2020: to develop and demonstrate in China and the EU advanced, near-zero emissions coal technology through carbon capture and storage. Subsequently, MOST signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage with the UK in December, 2005 and with the Europe Committee in February, 2006, marking the formal start of innovative research led by the Chinese government. Both MoUs contain common objectives to be completed under the three phases of the collaboration: phase one is exploring the options for near-zero emissions coal technology through CCS in China during 20062009; phase two is dening and designing a demonstration project from 2010 to 2011; and phase three is constructing and operating a demonstration project from 2012 to 2015. To support the rst phase of the cooperation, the Europe Committee has supported the Cooperation Action within the CCS China-EU (COACH) project while the UK has supported the Near Zero Emissions Coal (NZEC) initiative. The overall objective of COACH is to prepare for large-scale use of coal for poly-generation with CCS. COACH involves 20 participants including 12 European partners and eight Chinese partners. The COACH project selected the Bohai basin to investigate the storage potenial with Shandong Province selected to assess CO2 emission sources (Vincent et al, 2008). The NZEC Initiative launched in November, 2007 involves

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20 Chinese partners. The NZEC project selected the Songliao, Subei and Qinshui basins for storage investigations and Jilin Province for CO2 emission source assessments. Other Chinese research institutes and companies have been involved in several other international cooperation projects related to CCS, such as the MoveCBM (Monitoring and verication of Enhanced Coalbed Methane) project with the EU during 20062008, the Geocapacity project with the EU during 20062008 (Chen et al., 2008b), Cachet (Carbon Dioxide Capture and Hydrogen Production from Gaseous Fuels) with the EU during 20062009, STRACO2 (Support to Regulatory Activities for Carbon Capture and Storage) with the EU during 20082009, Caprice (CO2 Capture Using Amine Processes: International Cooperation and Exchange) with the EU, and CAGS (China Australia Geological Storage) with Australia during 20082010.

support public and industrial participation in the development and deployment of clean coal technologies with industry providing the principle demonstration and commercialization capability. International collaboration, especially on IGCC and CCS, should be further strengthened. References
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4. Concluding remarks In recent years, the fast-growing energy consumption and its resulting impact on the environment and energy security in China have become much more serious as Chinas economic growth rate increases. At the same time, as a large greenhouse gas emitter and one of the fastest growing economies in the world, China is facing more and more global pressure to reduce its emissions. Coal, the most abundant energy resource, will continue to be the dominant energy source, especially for electricity generation in China for a very long time. However, the most critical issue with increased coal utilization is the environmental pollution. Clean coal technologies must be developed to utilize coal without harming the environment and to increase the coal utilization efciency. Global initiatives to address climate change and environmental protection along with the rapid growth of the energy infrastructure in China are providing opportunities for clean coal technology development and deployment. China must pursue a sustainable development strategy. Clean coal technologies can be promoted in China by formulating policies to regulate industrial development and the deployment of clean coal technologies, especially IGCC and coal liquefaction. Although the Chinese government is already supporting clean coal technology projects with preferential scal policies on a case-bycase basis, there is a need for a comprehensive policy combining environmental protection policies, energy policies, industrial policies, energy conservation policies and new, high technology development policies. Reasonable national standards are needed, such as pollutant emission standards for the various coal equipment, and standards for advanced technologies to encourage the development of innovative technologies. The government should pay more attention to the R&D of key, advanced clean coal technologies. Environmental monitoring of coal red boilers needs to be further strengthened with strict nes for those who violate these regulations. Policies are needed to encourage and