Wison also last year cooperated with Shell Global Solutions to jointly develop a new hybrid gasificationtechnology to convert coal into more valuable products.
In China, Shell technology is at the center of 15 coalgasification plants being built to produce chemical feedstocks at a lower cost than using natural gas.
Another crucial hire was Donald Anthony, now chief technology officer, a former Bechtel executive who'd built the two largest coalgasification plants in North America.