Beijing – A Chinese coal mining firm claims to havebuilt the world’s largest facility to generate power from methane gas emitted during coal mining, state media reported Friday.
Some 99 percent of the methane emitted as a byproduct from mining can be used by the facility, which would have a maximum capacity of 30 megawatts, Xinhua news agency reported.
Jia Jian, deputy head of Lu’an Group’s Methane Gas Research Institute, said that the project will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.4 million tons per year. The facility in the northern province of Shanxi had been completed and would start operation soon, the firm said. China’s many coal mines reportedly produce methane gas emissions equivalent to 200 million tons of carbon dioxide .
China has been taking a stronger position in the fight against climate change and environmental pollution over the past year. In what many saw as a landmark initiative with the United States, China said in November it intended its greenhouse gas emissions to peak by around 2030, the first time it had set such a target.
In addition, punishments for polluters in China were increased at the start of this year as part of strengthened environmental legislation.
Sapa-dpa