How was the world’s longest coal pipeline built

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How was the world’s longest coal transport pipeline built? Beneath the northern Shaanxi plateau and the Guanzhong Plain, a 727-kilometer-long \"steel dragon\" transports coal at a rate of 30,000 tons per day, turning it into a flowing \"black blood\" that is continuously delivered to end-users. The Shenwei coal transport pipeline starts in the Yushen coal mining area in the north and extends to the Guanzhong coal chemical industry base in the south, passing through 4 cities and 18 counties and districts. By using entirely underground pipelines for transportation, it has overturned the traditional method of transporting coal by truck or train. As the world’s longest and China’s only long-distance coal transport pipeline, it has been able to operate continuously and stably for over 244 days in a single batch, with an annual transportation capacity of 10 million tons. This not only sets new records for the industry but also creates a green model that enables efficient coal transportation without the need to see coal itself, serving as a vivid example of the revolution in energy transportation. Built through great hardships, the construction and operation of the Shenwei coal pipeline have been fraught with difficulties. Shaanxi Province is a major coal-producing province in China, and Shaanxi Coal Group bears the important responsibility of driving the development of the coal industry throughout the province. Through scientific analysis and thorough research, the group has adopted the approach of \"coal mining – pipeline transportation of coal – integrated development of upstream and downstream coal chemical industries,\" considering pipeline transportation of coal to be an important measure in building a new logistics system. In March 2011, the group established Shaanxi Shenwei Coal Pipeline Transportation Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Shenwei Pipeline Transportation Company) to be responsible for the construction and operation of the Shenwei coal pipeline. “This is a pipe laid inside the ‘Geological Museum’. ”Xie Yihua, deputy manager of the production and operation branch of Shenwei Pipeline Transportation Company, stood in front of the electronic screen in the central control room of the pipeline and pointed at the numerous engineering markings, expressing his thoughts. The project involves 1,537 crossing structures, 60 tunnels, and 8 surface pumping stations; the construction challenges are beyond imagination: in the Yan’an section, the pipelines need to pass through 17 fault zones ； In the hilly areas of Weinan, the terrain with a drop of 1,096 meters is like a roller coaster. In 2015, the project was halted for half a year due to land acquisition and demolition; 117 disruptions along the route acted like \"intestinal obstructions,\" blocking construction progress. Xie Yihua led his team into the villages, visiting 47 administrative villages, and ultimately resolved the obstacles through an approach that combined ecological compensation with job assistance. When the entire route was completed in October 2019, the builders carved the eight characters \"Completed today to honor our original aspirations\" into the tunnel walls. What’s more difficult is debugging. During the water-filled trial operation of the pipeline in August 2020, \"water hammer\" phenomena occurred in the Yulin section due to terrain differences; the technical team stayed at the pump station for 72 consecutive hours, using independently developed technologies to ensure the stable operation of the entire pipeline. The total investment in the Shenwei coal transport pipeline is over 13 billion yuan. Construction began in July 2012, the entire line was completed by the end of October 2019, and it was ready for trial production by the end of 2021. In 2022, the project successfully passed the assessments for high-load and long-duration performance, transporting 5 million tons of raw coal throughout the year. Pipeline-transmitted water-coal slurry with a 53% concentration is concentrated to achieve a high-concentration water-coal slurry of over 65%, which is supplied directly for use by chemical industry users. This concentration is 4 to 6 percentage points higher than that of the water-coal slurry prepared by these users themselves, resulting in an increase of more than 10% in their production capacity and economic benefits. The company was the first in the industry to achieve the production of water-coal slurry at a high concentration of 67.1%, filling the gap in China’s coal chemical industry regarding the production of such high-concentration water-coal slurry. In 2023, the project successfully entered the production and operation phase. In April 2024, the project successfully passed the 72-hour continuous operation test organized by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation. “Currently, the Shenwei coal pipeline has achieved a transportation capacity of 10 million tons of coal per year. ”Xie Yihua explained. At the symposium on the successful trial operation of the Shenwei coal transport pipeline with slurry, Han Wenliang, an expert in slurry pipelines in China, professor at Tsinghua University, and honorary president of the Chinese Slurry Pipeline Association, said: “The completion of the Shenwei coal transport pipeline is of symbolic significance, just as was the construction of the first oil pipeline, the first highway, and the first high-speed rail.” It marks that coal can be transported not only by road and rail but also by pipeline. Its success fully demonstrates that the Chinese have fully mastered the complex technology of coal transportation via pipelines. ”