China planning dozens of plants that use coal instead of oil to make plastics

China is stepping up its efforts to use its vast coal reserves instead of oil to produce plastics and synthetic rubber. Coal can be refined to make olefins – an essential raw material for tens of thousands of chemical products that include plastics, synthetic fibres and rubber. While the mainstream practice is to produce olefins from oil, using coal can bring significant cost savings and might help to reduce the country’s reliance on imported fuel at a time when Donald Trump is seeking to expand...