Coal industry: Accelerate the speed of automation

The policy in the current and next stage of the coal industry is to apply modern technology to production stages, from mining to processing and transportation. This is the foundation to accelerate the modernization speed, shorten the gap with countries with advanced coal industries.

According to Vietnam Coal – Minerals Industry Group (TKV), in the process of innovation and development, with a deep awareness of science and technology (science and technology) plays a key role for sustainable development, Vinacomin has focused on scientific research, applied technical advances to production to improve labor productivity, increase output, rationally use natural resources, protect the environment, step by step bring the industry. The coal-mineral mining industry has become an industry with an advanced technological level.

Notably, for the innovation and modernization of technology, TKV always associates research with production, urges units to actively register, implement and develop annual plans, including research topics, experimental production projects, and technology transfer. Besides, TKV also builds S&T potentials, trains staff to improve qualifications, builds and upgrades facilities for S&T development. Especially, from the Science and Technology Development Fund of TKV, we have deployed key and long-term programs, solving the modernization of coal mines and minerals; to develop mineral screening and deep processing technologies; developing cleaner production, saving energy, etc.

Typically, in open-pit coal mining, large capacity mechanized equipment has been synchronized such as: Large diameter drill, 12m3 reverse bucket hydraulic excavator; automobile – conveyor belt transport system; use of plows to reduce drilling and blasting, etc. In coal-mineral screening and processing, factories with a capacity of nearly 20 million tons / year have been renovated and invested in new technologies to produce quality coal dust. well, develop a cluster of sorting technology lines in the environment of spontaneous suspension and manhetite suspension to centralize the screening, improve efficiency, maximize coal recovery in the screening stage, etc. In addition, automation technology, computerization in operation, control and supervision have been thoroughly applied and modernized the production process.

Thanks to the effective application of mechanization and modernization, the coal mining output and productivity of some units in the Group has increased significantly; contribute to help TKV to successfully implement production and business development goals. In 2019, TKV exploited more than 40.5 million tons of coal (an increase of 3.9 million tons compared to 2018); profit is estimated at more than 3,000 billion; average income is 11.3 million / person / month. Therefore, in the coming time, the coal industry will continue to widely apply synchronous mechanization to major production stages in exploitation and processing. At the same time, to study the construction of a number of unmanned operation stations; implementing automation model associated with smart production at some stage in order to make the production process transparent and optimize.

According to the Department of Science and Technology (Ministry of Industry and Trade), the Ministry of Industry and Trade is continuing to coordinate with the Ministry of Science and Technology and the coal industry units to build a big task to master the technology of designing and manufacturing some mining and processing equipment. coal, reducing production costs, reducing dependence on imported coal mining equipment such as: Researching and selecting advanced technologies in coal basin exploitation in Red River Delta; researching, designing and manufacturing a system of equipment for mechanization and automation in mining and coal mining and transportation in underground coal mines in Quang Ninh.

The research and investment in technological innovation has contributed to increase the coal output of the whole industry by 9.4% / year on average. This is considered the key to increase labor productivity, reduce resource loss, and save costs.

Productivity and Quality Office