China's search for clean fuel leads to West Virginia
• A team led by WVU Chemical Engineer Elliot Kennel will be conducting experiments to convert biomass and coal to transportation fuel under a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and using equipment donated by the Lu’an Group, a Chinese energy business enterprise.
March 24, 2011
In its worldwide search for transportation fuel, China is turning to West Virginia University for cleaner, affordable, domestic options.
A team led by WVU Chemical Engineer Elliot Kennel will be conducting experiments to convert biomass and coal to transportation fuel under a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and using equipment donated by the Lu’an Group, a Chinese energy business enterprise.
China has one of the world’s fastest growing automotive markets. According to the Energy Information Administration’s International Energy Outlook 2010, car sales in China surged by nearly 50 percent in 2009 while sales through 2010 were expected to slow to a 7- to 10-percent. Experts predict that the growing demand will strain world oil markets.
“China plans to use coal-to-liquids technology to lessen its dependence on foreign oil,” said Jerald Fletcher, director of WVU’s US-China Energy Center. “Kennel’s project is interesting because it will help China develop technologies that are intended to lessen coal’s environmental impact.”
Recent award
The $304,000 project is one of several under a recent $1.2 million award to the WVU US-China Energy Center from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy to study the long term environmental and economic impacts of coal liquefaction in China. The US-CEC is a joint program of WVU’s Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design and the National Research Center for Coal and Energy, also at WVU.
Lu’an Group has provided a liquefaction research facility which is being installed in the NRCCE on WVU’s Evansdale campus where the research will take place.