Wison also last year cooperated with Shell Global Solutions to jointly develop a new hybrid gasification technology to convert coal into more valuable products.

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Shell aims to combine coal gasification with gas-to-diesel technology in an alliance with coal miner Anglo American.

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Or it can produce chemical feedstocks, at a lower cost than natural gas, as at the 15 gasification plants being built, using Shell technology, in China.

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General Electric is part of several announced deals, including a project to expand high-speed rail in the U.S. using Chinese technology and a joint effort with Shenhua Gasification to building clean energy generators.

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Coal Gasification is a well-known, tried and true technology, dating back to the mid-1800s.

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In China, Shell technology is at the center of 15 coal gasification plants being built to produce chemical feedstocks at a lower cost than using natural gas.

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Another crucial hire was Donald Anthony, now chief technology officer, a former Bechtel executive who'd built the two largest coal gasification plants in North America.

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