Japan Coal Energy Center

JCOAL promotes to commercialize clean coal technologies developed in Japan and transfers and disseminates these technologies to and within countries that produce and consume coal in the Asia-Pacific region. JCOAL also exploits and promotes coal projects based on the Kyoto Mechanism (CDM/JI) to solve global environmental issues.

(1)Cultivating and Developing CDM Projects

1) Chinese coal fired power station renovation project

More than 70 percent of power stations in China use coal to generate power.
However, many of these coal-fired power stations are small- or mid-sized plants with low generation efficiency and poor pollution control measures.
Japan is expected to apply its advanced plant diagnosis and improvement techniques to improve the generation efficiency power generation and the environment protection at existing coal fired power stations in China.
Such a model project for a Japan-China energy conservation program was started in 2007, and its expansion to CDM projects is now being considered.

2) Qualifying fluidized bed advanced cement kiln system (FAKS) as a CDM project
The fluidized bed advanced cement kiln system (FAKS) is new cement production system by using the combustion properties, heat conductivity, particle diffusion and particle enlargement specific to the fluidized bed process. As it is possible to achieve more efficient cement production than conventional rotary kiln system, discussions on qualifying FAKS as a CDM project are now underway.

3) CDM projects
To apply the Kyoto Mechanisms including CDM to coal related technologies, JCOAL carries out project-finding and surveys on global warming issues.

What is CDM (Clean Development Mechanism)?
A developed country (investor) and a developing country (host) work together on a CO2 reduction project. Emission reductions credits (certified emission reductions or CER) are issued according to how much CO2 emissions the host country has reduced through the project. Project participants from the investing country can share the credits, which will be used by the investing country to achieve its own CO2 emission reduction target.

(2)UBC Process

The UBC (Upgraded Brown Coal) process has been developed to upgrade low rank coal (LRC), based on the slurry dewatering technology used in the pretreatment process of Brown Coal Liquefaction. Half of the world’s coal resources are so-called LRC such as lignite (brown coal) and sub-bituminous coal. However, LRC is still consumed within local areas only because it has high moisture, low heating value and high propensity of spontaneous combustion. Applying the UBC process to LRC will convert it into high grade coal with higher heating value and less propensity of spontaneous combustion. A joint UBC process development project between Japan and Indonesia (2001 to 2004) with a 3 tons/day pilot plant was successfully completed as scheduled. A large-scale demonstration project with a 600 tons/day plant was launched in 2006.

(3)Quality Control for Coal Cleaning

From the viewpoint of coal cleaning, JCOAL has been developing coal cleaning technologies to effectively use coal resources and control environmental pollution, as well as expand the range of application.

1) Projects to Support the Introduction of Advanced Coal Cleaning Systems
JCOAL helped the Cua Ong coal preparation plant in the Ha Long Bay region, Vietnam, to improve its coal washer and waste water treatment system. The environmental pollution control, quality management and effective coal cleaning achieved through the project have been highly rated. In India, a feasibility study subsidized by NEDO for a demonstration project on VARIWAVE jigs, which were developed in Japan, has been completed, paving the way for implementation. VARIWAVE jigs are expected to effectively wash difficult-to-clean Indian coal and thus raise the country's self-sufficiency in coal to meet the rapidly increasing demand.

2) Joint Research into a High Efficiency Coal Cleaning System
JCOAL has completed a joint research study in Indonesia on a high efficiency coal cleaning system that effectively cleans different types of raw coal to improve the cleaning efficiency, produce general coals with stable quality and reduce the environmental burden. With the recent rising demand for environmental protection, coal cleaning is now able to remove from the coal coarse particles of iron pyrite, which are one of the sources of sulfur oxides. Thus, coal cleaning is a promising means to help achieve environmental protection. Subsidized by METI and commissioned by NEDO, JCOAL carries out joint researches and experimental projects to disseminate coal cleaning techniques in other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.