From June 28 to 30, the 2024 Coal Coking Industry Technology Innovation and Environmental Protection Forum was held in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. The event was jointly organized by the MCC Nonferrous Technology Platform, the Shanxi Chemical Society, Taiyuan University of Technology, and the China Nonferrous Metals Think Tank. The theme of the conference was "Clean and Efficient Utilization of Coal Coking Technology Innovation." Renowned experts, scholars, research institutes, higher education institutions, and supplier representatives from the coking industry and related sectors attended. Discussions focused on clean production in the coal coking industry, efficient utilization of coal coking products, and innovative environmental technologies.

The General Environmental Engineering (GEE) team from Lanzhou University adheres to the philosophy of "ideological and political integrity, outcome orientation, and practice-based education," integrating teaching, research, and application organically with teaching as the core, research as the main approach, and application as the ultimate goal. The team has been dedicated to research in environmental protection, cyclone separation engineering, pollution control, and ecological environmental planning. Over the past five years, it has led over 40 research projects, including national key R&D programs, National Natural Science Foundation projects, and commissioned corporate projects, with total funding exceeding 35 million yuan. The team has obtained over 40 national patents and contributed to more than 10 local standards. China's National VI B standards released in 2023 strictly limit fuel sulfur content to below 10 ppm. However, current hydrodesulfurization technologies face challenges such as high energy consumption, reduced fuel quality, and severe pollution. To address these issues, the GEE team developed an environmentally friendly, room-temperature manganese-based desulfurizer, MnOx/CMS. This desulfurizer utilizes the adjustable oxygen vacancies of MnOx and theπ-structure of carbon molecular sieves to interact with organic sulfur at room temperature and pressure, reducing sulfur content in fuels to below 1 ppm. The sulfur content after desulfurization is far below national standards, and compared to high-temperature, high-pressure hydrodesulfurization, this room-temperature process maintains product quality while reducing energy consumption.

Associate Professor Zhang Yun, a member of the GEE team, attended the conference and delivered an invited report titled "Room-Temperature Deep Desulfurization Research Induced by Oxygen Vacancies in MnOx/CMS" at a breakout session. This room-temperature deep desulfurization technology is expected to play a key role in the deep desulfurization of coking crude benzene, gasoline/diesel, coke oven gas, and liquefied gas, contributing to the green development of the coal coking industry and environmental protection, and supporting sustainable development goals. Following the assessment by industry experts and the forum's organizing committee, the GEE team was honored with the "Coking Technology Innovation Team" award at the 2024 Coal Coking Industry Technology Innovation and Environmental Protection Forum.