Be vigilant for foreign coal gasification technology testing ground
October 02 07:06:07, 2025
China's coal-based energy structure necessitates a focus on national conditions and the vigorous development of clean coal technologies. Among these, the most critical is the efficient and clean conversion of coal into syngas (a mixture of CO and H2), which is achieved through coal gasification technology. China has already developed its own independent coal gasification technology and successfully demonstrated its industrial application. However, despite this progress, foreign coal gasification technologies continue to be introduced repeatedly, raising concerns among experts that China has become a testing ground for these technologies.
Coal gasification serves as the foundation for various industries such as coal-based chemicals, liquid fuels, combined-cycle power generation, polygeneration systems, hydrogen production, and fuel cells. It is a key and leading technology with significant economic and national security implications. With China’s massive market potential, many large foreign companies are now competing fiercely in the domestic coal gasification sector. According to expert estimates, during the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, China’s coal gasification capacity reached about 100 million tons. The construction of methanol plants, ammonia plants, coal-to-olefin facilities, and other projects highlights the strong demand for advanced coal gasification technologies.
Since the 1980s, China has introduced numerous foreign coal gasification technologies, including Lurgi fixed-bed, U-Gas fluidized-bed, Texaco water-coal slurry, and more recently BGL fixed-bed, Shell pulverized coal, GSP entrained bed, and Texaco entrained bed technologies. Despite having developed its own solutions, China still relies heavily on imported technologies.
According to incomplete data, coal gasification equipment imported from abroad consumes approximately 58,000 tons of coal daily. Based on this, patent licensing fees alone have exceeded $200 million. This does not include the high costs of proprietary equipment and on-site technical services, which could add hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign exchange expenses.
While early technology introductions contributed to China’s economic growth, many of these technologies were not fully mature or optimized for local conditions. As a result, China has ended up bearing significant costs due to the blind adoption of foreign systems. For example, the widespread introduction of Shell’s pulverized coal gasification technology has led to long-term challenges, including high investment costs that have placed a heavy burden on manufacturers.
However, there is hope. After over 20 years of research, Professor Yu Zunhong’s team at East China University of Technology, in collaboration with Yankuang Group, successfully developed a multi-nozzle opposed coal-water slurry gasification technology with full intellectual property rights. This technology has achieved industrialization and holds nearly 20 invention and utility model patents. A similar multi-nozzle opposed pulverized coal gasification system has also been successfully tested. Due to the development of this homegrown technology, foreign companies have had to reduce their patent licensing fees significantly.
Despite these achievements, the technology faces resistance during its commercialization. Experts urge the government to stop the repeated introduction of foreign technologies and instead promote the use of domestic, independent technologies. They suggest offering financial incentives such as loans, tax credits, and preferential access to energy resources to support the adoption of Chinese coal gasification technology. This would not only accelerate the large-scale application of domestically developed solutions but also boost related national industries while saving substantial patent fees.