OREANDA-NEWS. August 12, 2014. China plans to build 50 coal gasification plants in less populated northwestern parts of the country, using the gas produced to generate electricity in the more populated areas, where smog is prevalent.

Two coal gasification pilot plants have been built, three more are under construction, and 16 have been approved for construction, while the rest are in various planning stages. Eighty percent of the 50 plants are to be located in northwest China, in the provinces or regions of Xinjiang, western Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Gansu.

These plants are part of China’s plan to alleviate air pollution in its smoggiest cities by reducing coal use in these areas by 2017, instead using gas from coal produced miles away. According to the Chinese state-owned power companies, these plants are considered “clean energy” or “new energy.” To achieve cleaner air in the cities through gasification, net carbon dioxide emissions will increase, while water scarcity may result from a gasification process that uses a great deal of water.

Coal Gasification

In coal gasification, a technology that has been around for decades, coal is chemically transformed into synthetic natural gas (SNG). China, with its vast coal resources, is using SNG for power generation and to reduce its dependency on imported liquefied natural gas (LNG). China’s National Energy Administration plans to produce 50 billion cubic meters of gas from coal by 2020, enough to satisfy more than 10 percent of China’s total gas demand. It not only makes economic sense – it also allows China to exploit its coal deposits that are located thousands of miles from the country’s main industrial centers and to solve local pollution problems. In addition, transporting the natural gas to demand centers is cheaper than transporting the coal and using it directly.

Coal gasification produces more carbon dioxide than a traditional coal plant. According to a study by Duke University, synthetic natural gas emits seven times more greenhouse gases than natural gas, and almost twice as much carbon dioxide as a coal plant. Further, coal gasification is one of the more water-intensive forms of energy production. In the western parts of China where many of these plants would be located, there are already water shortages.

China’s smog problem is due to the release of oxides of sulfur and nitrogen and particulate matter (criteria pollutants) from the combustion of coal in power plants. Gas-fired power plants emit up to 99 percent fewer criteria pollutants than coal plants. China has turned to SNG because it does not have sufficient domestic natural gas, but it does have abundant coal resources. Although China has a large amount of shale gas resources—comparable to those of the United States-they are currently undeveloped. While imported LNG can help and China is also pursuing that avenue , it is less expensive and more energy secure for China to use its own coal resources. Further, the country can construct its SNG plants relatively quickly, and perhaps faster than the country’s shale gas infrastructure can be developed. Natural gas currently supplies 5 percent of China’s energy demand.