China's coal waste to sand plant: turning gangue into construction materials for zero waste goals
scmp.comA new plant in Shanxi, China is turning coal gangue, the hard solid waste from coal mining and washing, into construction grade sand and gravel aggregates. The facility produces 1,000 tonnes per day of building materials, pushing China closer to its zero waste coal goal. This is part of a broader effort to clean up coal's full lifecycle, from water and exhaust gases to solids. The project in Gaoping city uses processing technology to crack ultra hard coal waste into high value industrial materials. China is also extracting critical metals like lithium and gallium from coal gangue and fly ash, and converting power plant emissions into fertilizer. These steps show a practical approach to reducing the environmental footprint of coal while the country still relies on it for energy.