JGC?s coal slurry demonstration plant to start operation next month

Japanese engineering firm JGC Corporation will complete a demonstration plant to process low-rank coal into coal water mixture (CWM) or coal slurry with capacity of 10,000 tonnes a year in Karawang, West Java next month, the company?s official told Petromindo.Com.

The official said that the demonstration plant is near completion. JGC teams up with Indonesian conglomerate Sinarmas Group, the official said without giving further details.

Earlier, JGC plans to invest between $200 million to $300 million to develop a coal upgrading plant which can turn low-rank coal into an alternative fuel to petroleum products.

JGC Corporation plans to build a coal upgrading facility with production capacity of 1 million tonnes a year which can turn coal with heating value of less than 4,000 kcal/kg As-Received, into a bituminous-type one with heating value of above 6,000 kcal/kg AR, said Tetsuo Fujita, the President of JGC Coal Fuel in June 2011.

JGC Corporation has developed technologies that use high-pressure hot water to upgrade low-rank coal and then turn the upgraded coal into slurry which can be used as substitute for marine fuel oil, widely used in power boiler for power plants and other industries such as chemical. (denny)