Coal gasification project unit to be founded

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ A Cabinet meeting last Friday decided to establish a project unit responsible for introducing coal gasification technology. Amid his official visit to China in October 2013, the Prime Minister N.Altankhuyag signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate with Chinese Sinopec Group on introduction of coal gasification technology in Mongolia. Under this cooperation, gas fuel will produced from lignite coal in mine-mouth plants to supply the need of Ulaanbaatar city, and further to export to China. The project is expected to be realized under a funding of USD 30 billion, during which four plants will produce 16 billion cubic meter of gasified coal. By this September, feasibility studies of the coal gasification complex are likely to be completed to give a way to plant construction in 2015-2018. The project is expected to create 40 thousand temporary and 10 thousand permanent jobs. Export of high-tech processed lignite coal will be not only great contribution to the economy, but also be effective in reducing air pollution, the Government believes. Coal gasification is the process of producing syngas–a mixture consisting primarily of methane, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapor from coal and water, air and/or oxygen.