More than 100 million tons of unused low-quality coal is expected to be used as raw material for coking, with the latest coal blending technology invented by Shanxi Coking Group.

After hundreds of tests and a considerable amount of research, the company succeeded in adding a kind of coal with low viscosity to raw coal through the new technique when producing cokes.

As a result, the low-quality coal with low glutinosity and a high melting point will be easily dealt with, which suggests that 20 percent of coal reserves in Shanxi province can finally be put to use.

Indeed, the great advancement in coal utilization owes to a database recording 195 kinds of raw coal and an intelligent coal blending system which can analyze and compute the proper proportion for raw coal mixture.

"Coking companies only need to set the range of cost index of coal," said Guo Wencang, chairman of Shanxi Coking Group, "the system will choose the best from thousands of blending plans according to local distribution of coal resources."

With the optimization of coal blending, Shanxi Coking Group gained some 50 million yuan ($7.4 million) in revenue during 2015 by decreasing the coal cost by eight to ten yuan per ton. In the first half of 2016, more than 10 million yuan has been added to the company's profits.

The innovation will also help 80 percent of coking companies in Shanxi make full use of cheap low-quality coal and reduce their losses during operations.

Shanxi Coking Group has established partnerships with several peers to benefit more coal and coke companies with the new technology, pushing the Shanxi coal industry ahead.