RIDING on a driverless, rubber-tired vehicle to the coalface at a depth of 150 meters has become part of the daily routine for miners in the Shangwan Coal Mine in Ordos, northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Thanks to the digitization of the coal industry, miners no longer need to enter the deep mineshafts via walking or riding an outdated small train.

“The 19-seat new-energy vehicle is equipped with advanced technology like lidar sensors and millimeter wave radar sensors that enable it to run deep into the coalface along a planned route without human operation, which is safer and quicker,” said Shen Fei, director of the mine’s electromechanical information center.

After half an hour, Shen arrived at the coalface and made a video call to the control center on the ground.

“The full deployment of 5G network makes instant messaging possible for underground miners,” Shen said.

Since intelligent transformation was launched three years ago, the Shangwan Coal Mine, with an annual output of 16 million tons of coal, has witnessed remarkable progress in its productivity. Machines have replaced people in a total of 36 posts, which reduce the amount of heavy physical work performed by miners.

According to an official statement from the Ministry of Science and Technology, China will accelerate the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in 10 scenarios, including coal mines. Unmanned operation, intelligent patrol and remote control will become the new normal in mines in the future.

China has been accelerating the construction of a new energy system, growing its capacity to ensure the nation’s energy supply. It has achieved remarkable results in the green and low-carbon transformation of the country’s energy mix.

Advancing the clean and green transformation of fossil energy has remained a priority in the country, and major coal-producing provinces have announced measures to peak carbon emissions in the near future.

For example, to promote the high-end, diversified and low-carbon development of the coal industry, northwestern China’s Shaanxi Province will make efforts to produce new carbon-based materials like biodegradable forms of plastic and polyester, according to a statement of the provincial government.

As a coal-producing heartland, Yulin in Shaanxi has set an example. The world’s first coal-based ethanol project was located in the Yushen Industrial Zone in Yulin, co-developed by Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum (Group) Co.

“By using low-cost coal as a raw material to produce ethanol, thereby replacing bioethanol, the project can save as much as 1.5 million tons of grain each year. It not only realizes the clean and efficient use of fossil fuels, but also helps to ensure food security,” said Liu Shixiong, vice managing director of Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Yushen Energy & Chemical Co. (Xinhua)