Japanese Company Investing in New Coal Liquefaction Project in China

Interfax is reporting that a coal liquefaction facility will be built in the Jilin province of north-eastern China, with help from the Japanese company Universe Gas and Oil Co. Reportedly, Universe will spend over $51 million on the facility to produce 500,000 tons per year of what they term clean fuel oil. How clean any coal based project can be is debatable, but the plant will be using coal from local mines. Company official Zhang Shuang says the technology they will use is different from existing coal to liquid facilities, but provided no other details.
[Source: Interfax via GreenCarCongress]