Many modern economies, including Greece and Victoria (Australia), are highly dependent on brown coal for electricity.
The high moisture content is the key reason the state's three major power stations are collectively regarded as the dirtiest carbon emitters in the world.
The technologies will help to address the global environmental concern of rising emissions from the burning of brown coal and provide alternative fuel options to rapidly emerging economies such as Vietnam, that face difficulty competing for black coal with China, India, Japan, and other nations.
The best known producer of refined coal is a company based in Denver, Colorado called Evergreen Energy Inc.
According to the company's website and its Form 10-K on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, it was founded in 1984 to commercialize a coal-upgrading technology first developed in a Stanford University laboratory by Edward Koppelman.
The company was listed in 2005 with the primary purpose of commercialising the Coldry Process coal-upgrading methodology first developed in the Chemical Laboratory of Melbourne University by Dr B.
Evergreen Energy constructed a full-scale coal refinery near Gillette, Wyoming that began operation in late 2005.
Evergreen idled the facility in March 2008[8] and instead used the plant as a process development platform with its engineering, construction and procurement contractor Bechtel Power Corporation.
Evergreen is now seeking to construct a coal refinery using the improved Bechtel design at locations in the Midwestern United States and in Asia.
[9] Calleja Group constructed a full-scale 16,000 tonne per annum pilot demonstration plant at JBD Business Park at Maddingley Mine near Bacchus Marsh, Victoria that began operation in early 2004.
In 2009 ECT Limited secured and agreement with Thang Long Investment Company (Tincom) of Vietnam to finalise commercial feasibility ahead of construction of a 2 million tonne pa export plant by 2014 and 20 million tonne pa export by 2020.
ECT Limited is using the ARUP improved design to secure technology licensing agreements with brown coal suppliers in China, India, Indonesia, Poland, Greece and Russia.
It has capacity to process 1 MTPA of coal feedstock and is located in Holingol, Inner Mongolia, the largest lignite-producing region in China.