Xinjiang to launch huge coal gasification project

A large coal gasification project will be built in northwest China\'s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the regional authorities said Sunday. The demonstration project in Zhundong area, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, will be the country\'s largest with a designed capacity of 30 billion cubic meters annually, said the region\'s development and reform commission. With a total investment of 183 billion yuan (about 29.7 billion U.S. dollars), the project will be jointly built by Sinopec, Huaneng Xinjiang Energy Development Co., Ltd. and some other energy companies in Xinjiang and eastern Zhejiang Province. The industrial project will need 90 million tonnes of coal annually. It will provide at least 18,000 jobs. The coal gas will be transported to booming provinces of Zhejiang in east China and Guangdong in the south through pipelines. The Zhundong area has estimated coal reserves of 390 billion tonnes and proven reserves of 213.6 billion tonnes, the largest coal field in China. With the development of new technologies, coal gasification is expected to be a key sector in the country\'s clean energy initiative. Several big coal gasification projects have been approved by the country\'s top economic planning body so far.