不久前，全球单体规模最大的煤制油示范工程——国家能源集团宁夏煤业有限责任公司(以下简称“宁夏煤业”)400万吨/年煤炭间接液化项目智能化改造项目(以下简称“智能化改造项目”)全部完成并投运。

Not long ago, the largest single-scale coal-to-oil demonstration project in the world - the intelligent transformation project of the 4 million tons/year indirect coal liquefaction project of Ningxia Coal Industry Co., Ltd. of National Energy Group (hereinafter referred to as "Ningxia Coal Industry") - was fully completed and put into operation.

2025年，宁夏煤业油化品产量突破460万吨，年转化煤炭2400万吨，占宁夏煤炭年产量的四分之一，吨煤综合利用价值提升7倍以上，彻底跳出粗放卖煤的老路。

In 2025, the output of coal, oil and chemical products in Ningxia will exceed 4.6 million tons. The annual conversion of coal will reach 24 million tons, accounting for one quarter of the total coal output in Ningxia. The utilization value per ton of coal will increase by more than 7 times, completely breaking away from the old path of merely selling coal in an uncontrolled manner.

如今，宁夏煤业依托数字化、智能化升级持续优化生产链条，不断延伸高端油品、精细化工、民生新材料产业链，让深埋地下的乌金跳出燃料“宿命”。

Nowadays, Ningxia Coal Industry, relying on digital and intelligent upgrades, continuously optimizes its production chain and continuously extends the high-end oil products, fine chemicals, and new materials for daily life industries. This enables the black gold buried deep underground to break free from its "fateful" status as a fuel.

自主突围“点煤成油”

Independent breakthrough: "Turning coal into oil"

石油被称为“工业血液”，直接关系国家经济运转与能源战略安全。一直以来，我国能源结构都是富煤、贫油、少气，过高的原油对外依存度让能源安全问题日渐突出。宁夏煤炭占能源比重超过90%。如何“点煤成油”，是能源结构性改革中筑牢能源安全“压舱石”、推动煤炭从燃料向原料转变的关键一招。

Oil is known as the "blood of industry", directly influencing the operation of a country's economy and the security of its energy strategy. For a long time, China's energy structure has been characterized by abundant coal resources, scarce oil resources, and limited gas resources. The excessively high dependence on imported crude oil has made the issue of energy security increasingly prominent. In Ningxia, coal accounts for over 90% of the energy mix. How to convert coal into oil is a crucial move in the structural reform of energy, aimed at strengthening the "ballast stone" of energy security and promoting the transformation of coal from a fuel to a raw material.

煤炭间接液化是煤制油的核心技术路线之一，即让煤炭在高温下与氧气和水蒸气进行反应，全部气化为一氧化碳和氢气的混合物，合成气经过净化再进入费托合成工艺，最后产出具有低硫、低芳烃等特点的油品，非常环保。“这项技术是煤化工领域最高深的‘魔术’。”宁夏煤业煤制油分公司生产部副部长何鹏说。

Coal indirect liquefaction is one of the core technical routes for coal-to-oil production. It involves heating coal with oxygen and steam to react, converting it all into a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which then undergoes purification and enters the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process. Finally, the resulting oil product has low sulfur and low aromatic content, making it very environmentally friendly. "This technology is the most sophisticated 'magic' in the field of coal chemical industry," said He Peng, the deputy director of the Production Department of Ningxia Coal Industry Coal-to-Oil Branch.

过去，我国在煤炭间接液化方面还是一片空白。该领域的鼻祖和龙头是一家国外企业。2004年1月，国家发展改革委经过反复筛选，确定宁夏煤业的前身——神华宁夏煤业集团有限责任公司为中方代表，负责与外国企业进行磋商谈判，意在推动煤制油技术合作。

In the past, our country had no experience in coal indirect liquefaction. The pioneer and leader in this field was a foreign enterprise. In January 2004, the National Development and Reform Commission, after multiple screenings, selected Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group Co., Ltd., the predecessor of Ningxia Coal Industry Company, as the Chinese representative to negotiate and discuss with foreign enterprises, with the aim of promoting cooperation in coal-to-oil technology.

岂料，这场拉锯式的谈判，一谈就是10年。掌控核心技术的外国企业不断提出附加条件，仅费托合成一项工艺就要价25亿美元。

Unexpectedly, this drawn-out negotiation lasted for 10 years. Foreign enterprises that controlled the core technologies kept adding conditions. For just the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process alone, they demanded a price of 2.5 billion US dollars.

谈判陷入僵局之际，国内研发形势取得突破性进展：宁夏煤业成功建成世界第一条煤制烯烃生产线，中科合成油公司在内蒙古伊泰建成16万吨/年煤炭间接液化项目生产线并产出合格产品。

When negotiations reached a deadlock, a breakthrough was made in the domestic research and development situation: Ningxia Coal Industry successfully built the world's first coal-to-olefin production line, and the Zhongke Synthetic Oil Company completed a 160,000-ton/year coal indirect liquefaction project in Inner Mongolia Yitai and produced qualified products.

关键时刻，宁夏煤业决定大胆采用具有自主知识产权的中科合成油公司中温浆态费托合成成套技术。2013年，400万吨/年煤炭间接液化示范项目正式获国家发展改革委批复。

At a critical moment, Ningxia Coal Industry decided to boldly adopt the medium-temperature slurry-state Fischer-Tropsch synthesis complete technology developed by Zhongke Synthetic Oil Company, which has its own independent intellectual property rights. In 2013, the 4 million tons/year coal indirect liquefaction demonstration project was officially approved by the National Development and Reform Commission.

攻坚克难闯出发展新路

Overcoming difficulties and forging a new path for development

自主创新之路并不好走。气化炉结焦、烧嘴寿命短、催化剂稳定性差……一个个技术难题如同一只只拦路虎，横亘在项目研发团队面前。

The path of independent innovation is not an easy one. Issues such as coke formation in the gasifier, short lifespan of the burners, and poor stability of the catalysts... one after another, these technical challenges are like numerous obstacles blocking the way for the project research and development team.

气化炉是煤炭间接液化过程中的龙头装置，承担着原料气的供给任务。设计之初，团队拟采用国外技术方案。但审查时发现，进口工艺存在诸多水土不服，且调整需要高昂费用。情急之下，团队决定自主研发气化炉。

The gasifier is the key equipment in the indirect coal liquefaction process, responsible for supplying the raw gas. At the beginning of the design, the team intended to adopt the foreign technical solution. However, during the review, it was found that the imported process was not well-suited to the local conditions and the adjustments would require high costs. In a desperate situation, the team decided to independently develop the gasifier.

2012年，具有自主知识产权的“神宁炉”成功诞生，并获得15项发明专利，打破国外技术垄断。相比于只“吃”精煤的进口气化炉，“神宁炉”“通吃”各种煤炭，为劣质煤清洁利用提供了新的途径。进口气化炉从此在我国市场失去竞争力。

In 2012, the domestically-owned "Shen Ning Furnace" was successfully developed and obtained 15 invention patents, breaking the foreign technological monopoly. Compared with the imported integrated gasifiers that only "eat" refined coal, the "Shen Ning Furnace" can handle various types of coal and provides a new way for the clean utilization of inferior coal. Since then, the imported integrated gasifiers have lost their competitiveness in the Chinese market.

历时39个月建设之后，2016年10月，示范项目产出合格甲醇，12月产出轻质油、重质油、合格蜡，同年12月21日产出合格油品。十余年间，团队联合国内29家企业和科研院所，完成37项重大国产化任务。

After a construction period of 39 months, in October 2016, the demonstration project produced qualified methanol. In December, it produced light oil, heavy oil and qualified wax. On December 21 of the same year, qualified oil products were produced. Over a period of more than ten years, the team collaborated with 29 domestic enterprises and research institutes to complete 37 major domestication tasks.

占地面积560公顷，相当于650个标准足球场;敷设电缆2.1万公里，相当于长城总长度;工艺设备1.3万台，电气设备1.5万台，仪表设备11万台，阀门25万台，控制点21.7万个……一个世界级工程在荒漠上崛起。

The project covers an area of 560 hectares, equivalent to 650 standard football fields; it has laid 21,000 kilometers of cables, equivalent to the total length of the Great Wall; there are 13,000 pieces of machinery equipment, 15,000 pieces of electrical equipment, 110,000 pieces of instrument equipment, 250,000 valves, and 217,000 control points... A world-class project has risen from the desert.

当沉睡亿万年之久的煤炭从地层深处走来，进入煤制油生产系统后，它将发生一系列神奇变化，最终衍生出柴油、石脑油、液化气、硫磺、费托蜡等一系列产品，实现价值裂变升级。

When the coal, which has been sleeping deep within the earth for hundreds of millions of years, comes up from the underground and enters the coal-to-oil production system, it undergoes a series of miraculous transformations, eventually giving rise to a variety of products such as diesel, naphtha, liquefied gas, sulfur, and Fischer-Tropsch wax, achieving a value transformation and upgrading.

依托自主研发核心技术，航天科技集团联合多家企业研发的煤基航天煤油助力长征十二号运载火箭直冲云霄，打破航天煤油单一油源依赖;宁夏煤业自主研发的“C能+”系列高端润滑油，填补国产高端润滑油技术空白，11类产品覆盖车用、工业两大领域，其中68#抗磨液压油性能比肩国际高端产品。

Relying on its independently developed core technology, the Aerospace Science and Technology Group, in collaboration with several enterprises, developed coal-based aerospace kerosene to assist the Long March 12 carrier rocket in soaring into the sky, breaking the dependence on a single oil source for aerospace kerosene. Ningxia Coal Industry independently developed the "C Energy+" series of high-end lubricants, filling the technological gap in domestic high-end lubricants. 11 types of products cover two major fields of vehicle use and industrial applications. Among them, the 68# anti-wear hydraulic oil has performance comparable to that of international high-end products.

未来目标锚定高端绿色智能

Future goal: Targeting high-end, green and intelligent products

历经多年迭代发展，我国煤制油产业已实现跨越式突破——从过去仅产出液化石油气、普通柴油等初级燃料，到如今已拓展出油、蜡、气、材、精细化学品五大类40种产品集群。然而亮眼成绩背后，行业发展仍存诸多瓶颈。

After years of iterative development, China's coal-to-oil industry has achieved a leapfrog breakthrough - from only producing primary fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ordinary diesel in the past, to now having expanded to five categories of products including oil, wax, gas, materials, and fine chemicals, totaling 40 varieties. However, behind these impressive achievements, there are still many bottlenecks in the industry's development.

“从目前产品种类来说，真正能称为高端的产品实际上并不多。”一位业内人士坦言，纵观头部企业产品结构，绝大多数仍属于中低端基础品类，高端产品占比较低。诸多高端化工研发成果仍停留在实验室小试阶段，未能落地工业化量产。

"From the current range of products, the number of truly high-end products is actually quite limited," an industry insider admitted. Looking at the product structure of leading enterprises, the vast majority still fall into the category of mid-to-low-end basic products, with a relatively low proportion of high-end products. Many high-end chemical research and development achievements are still at the stage of laboratory small-scale trials and have not yet been implemented for industrialized mass production.

国家“双碳”目标为煤制油产业划定了清晰任务。当前，煤制油产业已探索出绿氢与煤化工装置深度耦合的成熟减碳路径，但从行业整体来看，绿氢应用渗透率极低。“即便是拥有国内规模最大绿氢耦合装置的宁夏煤业，每小时绿氢耦合使用量占煤化工总用氢量的比例也不到1%。”该人士透露。

The country's "carbon neutrality" goal has set clear tasks for the coal-to-oil industry. Currently, the coal-to-oil industry has explored a mature carbon reduction path of deep coupling between green hydrogen and coal chemical plants. However, from the perspective of the entire industry, the application penetration rate of green hydrogen is extremely low. "Even Ningxia Coal Industry, which has the largest green hydrogen coupling plant in China, the proportion of green hydrogen coupling usage per hour in the total hydrogen usage of the coal chemical industry is less than 1%," the person disclosed.

此次宁夏煤业煤制油智能化改造项目完成后，核心装置区采用工业“自动驾驶”模式，装置自控率达99.8%，可实现长期无人值守运行。“但是放眼国内，这样的项目比较少，大量高危作业仍高度依赖人工操作，安全事故隐患持续存在。”一位不愿透露姓名的业内人士称，未来，我国煤制油产业的核心目标之一就是全流程智能化，实现生产本质安全。

After the completion of this intelligent transformation project of Ningxia Coal Industry's coal-to-oil production, the core equipment area adopts an industrial "autonomous driving" mode, with the equipment self-control rate reaching 99.8%, enabling long-term unmanned operation. "However, in China, such projects are relatively rare. A large number of high-risk operations still heavily rely on manual operation, and safety hazards persist," an unnamed industry insider said. In the future, one of the core goals of China's coal-to-oil industry will be full-process intelligence, achieving intrinsic safety in production.

短板已然摆在面前，突围方向也日渐清晰。业内人士认为，下一步，要向高端化、绿色化、智能化协同推进，多维度同向发力，推动煤制油产业实现从示范引领向产业高质量发展的跨越。高端化方面，要深化产学研联合攻关，打通科研小试到工业化量产通道，大力开发高附加值油品与精细化工产品;绿色化方面，持续扩大绿氢、绿电与煤化工装置耦合比例，配套碳减排技术，契合“双碳”目标要求;智能化方面，推动机器人、智能巡检设备全面覆盖高危工序，筑牢安全生产“生命线”。

The shortcomings are already evident, and the direction for breakthroughs is becoming clearer. Industry experts believe that in the next step, the coal-to-oil industry should be advanced in a coordinated manner towards higher-end, greener, and more intelligent directions. Multi-dimensional efforts should be made in the same direction to promote the industry to achieve a leap from demonstration and leadership to high-quality development. In the high-end aspect, joint research and development efforts should be deepened, connecting the research and development stage of small-scale trials with industrial-scale production. Efforts should be made to vigorously develop high-value-added oil products and fine chemical products. In the greener aspect, the coupling ratio of green hydrogen, green electricity, and coal chemical plants should be continuously expanded, along with the adoption of carbon reduction technologies, in line with the requirements of the "dual carbon" goals. In the intelligent aspect, robots and intelligent inspection equipment should be fully deployed in high-risk processes to strengthen the "safety life line" for production.

从原煤直销到油品多元，从常规生产到低碳循环，相信下一个十年，我国煤制油行业定将交出更加精彩的答卷。

From direct sales of raw coal to diversified oil products, from conventional production to low-carbon circular economy, we believe that in the next decade, China's coal-to-oil industry will surely deliver an even more impressive performance.