Hengli Petrochemicals (China) has invested in a $20 billion project to turn coal into polyester yarn. Hengli is one of the world’s largest polyester yarn producers with strong channels of distribution in the textile supply chain. The new facility will be based in Shaanxi province, which has large coal reserves, and should be operational by 2025, according to a Reuters report. For the past 10 years, China has seen a surge in businesses that turn coal into chemicals. With the nation determined to reduce air pollution, coal has shifted from being an energy asset to an environmental enemy. In the China-dominated coal to chemical sector, investment so far has totalled $85 billion according to the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation. While China might lack a domestic supply of crude oil and natural gas, it has plenty of coal. So researchers set out to find ways to convert what they have into what they need. The process is said to have originated in the 1970s in Japan when Ube Industries developed a way to use synthesis gas made from coal and use it to produce ethylene glycol. It gained popularity in 2012 as a way to meet China’s growing demand for petrochemical-based fibers, like polyester. One of the newer developments is the ability to use coal to make ethylene glycol, one of the raw materials used to produce polyester fiber. One of the world’s largest coal-to-olefins projects successfully started up in 2010 at the China Shenhua Coal to Liquid and Chemical Company Ltd.’s project in Baotou, Inner Mongolia (Shenhua Baotou Coal to Olefins project). Shenhua Baotou Coal to Olefins project will produce nearly 1.8 million tons of methanol for approximately 600,000 tons of polyethylene and polypropylene per year. Shenhua is one of the world’s largest coal producers and a large diversified energy company in China and is playing a key part in the development of new coal-related technologies such as coal-to-liquid and chemicals. Chinese energy group China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) invested in building a coal-based petrochemical plant in China.