Expert to discuss coal liquefaction in China at WVU

MORGANTOWN -- The National Research Center for Coal and Energy at West Virginia University will hold its next Energy Seminar from 11 a.m. to noon on April 25 in the NRCCE Assembly Rooms, featuring Xiangkun Ren on "Coal Liquefaction in China."

Ren is vice president of China Shenhua Coal Liquefaction Corporation and director of Shenhua Coal Liquefaction Research Institute. As the leading scientist in the coal gasification program of the China High Technology Research and Development Project, Ren is at the forefront of China's pursuit to convert coal to liquid transportation fuels.

Ren is visiting WVU at the invitation Davis College Professor Jerald Fletcher, co-investigator of WVU's project on the long-term environmental and economic impacts of the development of a coal liquefaction sector in China. The project is co-directed with NRCCE Director Richard Bajura.

The Shenhua Group Corporation is developing the world's first commercial direct coal liquefaction facility as well as indirect facilities in China. Chinese researchers will work with WVU's investigators to assess environmental impacts associated with water,
coal and land use to support the facility, the economic impacts of the plant on the community during the construction and operational phases, and the technical and economic aspects of the operation of the plant. The study is part of the China-U.S. Bilateral Agreement for Fossil Energy.

U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd announced on April 19 a $1.5 million, three-year award for the WVU study in China, a joint activity between the U.S. Department of Energy and the China National Development and Reform Commission.