Blanco travels Thursday to Shanghai, where she will sign an agreement for the construction of the $1 billion Synfuels Inc. plant announced last summer for Ascension Parish. The plant would be built in China by Sinotec and barged to Louisiana. The company plans to convert Northwest Louisiana lignite into synthentic fuels, with by-products fueling an electrical generating plant to supply cheaper electricity to surrounding petrochemical plants that invest in the generation plant.