According to a written statement released by Zorlu on Monday, TÜBİTAK’s Technology and Innovation Support Program Directorate (TEYDEB) will give Zorlu a TL 9 million loan to build and run a research and development center to study electricity production from coal gasification, a process to transform coal into gas while removing the polluting particles normally resulting from the burning of coal.
The statement noted that the new center will focus on minimizing the environmental damage that coal causes through this process and obtain a form of coal gas that can then be used to produce electricity. The statement noted that electricity production from coal gasification is currently being used in the US, Germany, Japan, Austria, Denmark and Holland.
Gökmen Topuz, assistant to the general manager of Zorlu, underlined in the statement that the center will work to decrease the environmental damage of coal burning and increase energy efficiency in Turkey. He added that construction of the center will begin at the end of this year and it will start operations at the end of 2011.
