It is recommended to advance industrial demonstration of IGCC cogeneration

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It is recommended to advance industrial demonstration projects for IGCC cogeneration. [Yahua Consulting] Yahua Consulting believes that conventional coal-fired power generation produces large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions, and if the development trend of conventional thermal power continues, it will place significant pressure on China in terms of carbon emissions in the future. At the same time, China’s resource profile of abundant coal but limited oil and gas determines the important role of coal in the energy sector. Therefore, vigorously promoting clean coal technologies, particularly the application of integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) cogeneration in the power and chemical industries, should be given priority in China’s energy development strategy framework. The development of IGCC-based gasification cogeneration has also been strongly advocated by authoritative experts in the industry. Academician Ni Weidou of the Chinese Academy of Engineering said that multi-product production based on coal gasification yields various products, which can complement each other in terms of cost; energy can be utilized comprehensively, and a relatively inexpensive method for removing carbon dioxide can be provided. Efforts should be made to establish several industrial demonstration projects within three to five years. Academician Weng Shile of the Chinese Academy of Engineering advocates for a strong integration of coal gasification technology with thermal and electrical engineering, by establishing IGCC power generation systems within relatively mature coal chemical integrated production systems, thereby pursuing a distinctive coal-based integrated IGCC technology pathway. Lu Yanchang, president of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering, recently suggested that **energy-related** agencies should accelerate the approval of qualified and representative IGCC projects, and promote the construction of demonstration projects using different technical approaches. According to statistics from Yaha Consulting, China’s coal chemical and petrochemical industries have already built two IGCC cogeneration projects. In the field of coal chemical industry, Yankuang Group, supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology’s 863 program, has successfully implemented an IGCC cogeneration industrial demonstration in Tengzhou, Shandong. This facility was built in 2005 and has been operating steadily ever since. In the petrochemical industry, Fujian United Petrochemical’s large-scale integrated gas, power, and chemical production project aimed at environmental protection and energy savings was successfully completed and put into operation in March 2009, operating stably since then. In addition, the IGCC demonstration power plant – the Tianjin Green Coal Power Project, designed by Xi’an Thermal Power Institute and jointly funded by several large-scale power generation and coal enterprises including Huaneng Group, began construction in Tianjin in July 2009 by Huaneng Group. The coal-based synthetic oil and power generation co-production project of Shanxi Lu’an Group officially commenced construction in September 2009. The million-ton indirect liquefaction synthetic oil and IGCC power generation co-generation project of Shandong Yankuang Group in Yulin has obtained environmental assessment approval. The Shanghai Caojing IGCC demonstration project, jointly invested by China Power Investment and Shenhua Group, has also entered the preliminary development stage. Currently, a series of support policies have been introduced in areas such as wind energy, solar energy, and nuclear energy. In the field of new coal chemical industries, **policies require the steady advancement of industrial demonstrations for coal-to-oil, coal-to-olefins, dimethyl ether, coal-to-methane gas, ethylene glycol, and others. Unfortunately, to date, **no clear industrial support policies have been introduced for IGCC cogeneration and carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS)**. According to data from the China Electricity Council, in 2008 the total installed power capacity across the country reached 792 million kilowatts, of which thermal power accounted for about 600 million kilowatts, representing nearly 76% of the total capacity. In 2008, 1.34 billion tons of raw coal were used for power generation across the country. As Lu Yanchang, a veteran expert in the power industry, said, by 2020, coal-fired power will still account for over 60% of the total electricity generation in the country. To reduce carbon emissions, it is essential to develop clean coal power generation. The industry also hopes for **appropriate policy support for the application of clean coal technologies, as well as vigorous promotion of IGCC cogeneration industrial demonstrations, so that they can make a positive contribution to the development of a low-carbon economy in our country.