China plans to invest 5 billion yuan (US$732 million) to develop waste heat electricity generation technology on 82 sintering machines in 37 domestic steel manufacturers in the next three years, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology revealed in a document issued on January 18.

According to the ministry, the technology is expected to save the extra energy consumed by the machines driven by the coal fire. China consumes 10-million more tons of coal than the international average consumption when producing 565-million-ton steels annually.

The technology will help 20 percent of China's domestic steel manufacturers to save 1.575 million tons of coal. In 2010, seven steel companies, including Shougang Group, Hebei Chenggang Group, Anyang Iron & Steel Group, are spearheading the technology.

China first introduced the technology of residual waste electricity generation on sintering machines in 2004 from Japan to the Ma Steel Group based in central China's Anhui Province. So far, the country has 10 sintering machines equipped with the technology, with installed capacities totaling 137,000 kilowatts.