China to increase coal use to produce ethanol

In Maryland. Power Magazine reported that state-run media in China reported that a facility there has begun testing production of ethanol through the use of coal, rather than using crops such as corn or sugar cane to make the fuel. The plant in southeastern China, with an annual production capacity of 600,000 metric tons, is said to be the world’s largest ethanol-producing plant.

Chinese officials said the goal is to use the country’s abundant coal resources, rather than vital food sources, to make ethanol while also reducing China’s need to import the fuel.

Xinhua, a China state news agency said the coal-based production there is taking place at a plant in Huaibei, in Anhui province. The facility is using technology jointly developed by the DICP in partnership with the state-owned Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Group.

China is using low-grade coal in the ethanol production process; officials said the use of coal to make ethanol will save millions of tons of grain annually that can instead be used as a food resource, according to the report.

The report also highlighted that a new technology known as DMTE produces methanol from coke oven gas, which is a by-product of coke production, an industrial practice using coal. The methanol reacts with other materials to produce ethanol.