Shaanxi Future Energy’s coal-to-oil purification system operated in ‘black screen mode’ for 38 consecutive days

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As of February 24, 2026, the purification system at the Coal-to-Liquid Division of Shaanxi Future Energy Chemical Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Yankuang Energy under Shandong Energy Group, has achieved 38 consecutive days of stable operation under “black screen mode”—the longest such period since the plant began operations. This marks a significant breakthrough for the company in the field of intelligent and automated control of its core chemical processing systems. The purification system of the coal-to-oil branch has long relied heavily on manual monitoring and control, facing challenges such as high labor intensity, a high risk of human error, and limited response speed and accuracy, which hinder the continuous improvement of its overall efficiency. The coal-to-oil subsidiary established a dedicated task force to carry out continuous improvements, integrating intelligent solutions that combine UDS (Uninterrupted Operation) software with advanced process control systems (APC). These solutions were first applied in August 2025 to core systems such as the purification unit conversion and heat recovery processes, low-temperature methanol washing, and ammonia concentration processes. Statistics show that since the operation of this system, significant economic and environmental benefits have been achieved: under the same production load, steam consumption has decreased, resulting in annual savings of over 5,000 tons of 0.6 MPa steam and over 300 tons of 1.0 MPa steam; production costs have been reduced by more than 200,000 yuan, and sulfur dioxide emissions have dropped by 36.7%. According to a report by Sinochem Policy Research in December 2025, after implementing APC advanced control, intelligent alarm management, and black-screen operation technologies in its purification workshop, the coal-to-oil production facility achieved an automatic control rate of over 98%, while the frequency of critical alarms decreased by 80%. It thus became the first chemical company within the energy group to enable \"black-screen operation\" for its main production units. Shaanxi Future Energy Chemical Co., Ltd. uses multi-nozzle opposed water-coal slurry gasification, adjusts the H2/CO ratio through sulfur-resistant shift reaction, purifies the mixture using Linde’s low-temperature methanol washing process, and then employs Yankuang’s independently developed low-temperature Fischer-Tropsch synthesis technology to produce 1.1 million tons of oil products. It was completed and put into operation in 2015.