Japan to provide China new coal use technology

TOKYO, June 10 (Reuters) Japan is set to provide China with technology that uses liquefaction of coal to produce fuel such as gasoline, an attempt to relieve rising world energy demand, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) said on Saturday.

The growth of emerging economies such as China has made the demand for energy an increasingly pressing issue in Asia, with one of many disputes between Japan and its giant Asian neighbour centring on development of gas fields in the East China Sea. The new technology produces petroleum fuels such as gasoline and kerosene by subjecting powdered coal to heat and pressure, the Nikkei said.

An independent agency under Japan's trade ministry, the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), will join with two Chinese energy firms as early as next month to test the new technology, aiming to commercialise it by 2010.