从新中国建立以来我国选煤厂设计建设、选煤技术进步、原煤入选量、肩负使命等的演进过程，简要回顾了我国选煤工业从起步、成长、快速发展转向高质量发展的历史进程，概要总结了选煤方法、工艺流程、技术装备发展过程中的一些标志性成果。20世纪50年代，我国开始建立选煤工业，当时的任务是“洗煤保钢”，1956年先后成立了唐山煤炭研究院和选煤设计院；“一五”“二五”期间在前苏联、波兰援助下设计建设了6座跳汰选煤厂；1958年自主建立了我国第一个重介质选煤车间；1959年自主设计建设了第一座完整的选煤厂，奠定了我国选煤工业基础。20世纪60年代我国从波兰引进了10 座选煤厂，总设计规模16.4 Mt/a，大大提高了选煤能力；选煤厂设计开始采用跳汰 + 重介 + 浮选联合工艺。1970年我国自行设计建设了第一座全部采用国产装备的选煤厂，为我国选煤工业与技术发展积累了经验。1980—2000年，我国选煤工业处于成长阶段，重点任务是“洗煤节能”。改革开放后，我国采取自主创新、引进吸收和中外合作等方式，建成了一大批设备性能好、规模大、自动化程度高的选煤厂。采用选煤设计院编制的1.80 Mt/a选煤厂通用设计，建设的选煤厂初步实现了洗水闭路循环；从德国、美国、波兰等引进了3.0～4.0 Mt/a大型先进选煤厂成套设备，采用了跳汰 + 重介 + 浮选联合工艺；1987年从美国引进了第一座15.00 Mt/a特大型动力煤选煤厂，采用块煤浅槽重介 + 末煤重介质旋流器分选工艺；1990年从前苏联引进了1.80 Mt/a晋阳选煤厂，采用ϕ710/500 型三产品重介质旋流器分选工艺。成套装备的引进大大促进了我国选煤工业与技术的发展。“九五”期间，取得了“大型高效全重介选煤简化流程新工艺及设备”等一批重大科研成果，使自行研制的设备已能满足年生产能力400万t以下不同厂型、不同煤质、不同洗选工艺的新厂建设和老厂技术改造的需要。2000年，我国入选原煤3.37亿t，入选率为33.7%，在各种选煤方法中，跳汰占52%，重介28%，浮选14%，干选等其他方法占6%。21世纪以来，选煤作为洁净煤技术源头和煤炭清洁高效利用的重要基础，进入了快速发展时期，选煤方法多采用重介质分选，选煤厂建设呈现大型化集约发展，动力煤入选率大幅提高，煤炭产品从单一燃料向燃料与原料并重转变。“十三五”期间，我国自主研发的千万吨级湿法全重介质选煤技术、大型干法分选技术、低阶煤泥浮选技术、原煤井下排矸技术成功应用，使我国选煤技术进入国际先进或领先行列，到2020年，我国原煤入选率为74.1%，煤矸石综合利用率达72.2%。截至2021年，我国拥有规模及以上选煤厂2 400余座，原煤入选能力达34亿t/a，平均单厂入选能力从2000年的33万t/a提高到140万t/a；千万吨级特大型选煤厂有84座，入选能力超过13亿t/a，占当年总入选能力的38.2%；在各种选煤方法中，跳汰占8%，重介80%，浮选6%，干选等其他方法占6%，已有数十座选煤厂达到了智能化中级水平。面向碳达峰碳中和战略需求，为推进煤炭供给侧结构优化、消费侧能效提升，应加强煤岩显微组分分选、粉煤干法分选、大宗低阶煤泥提质、矸石综合利用和选煤基础理论等科技攻关，实现煤炭应选尽选，推动选煤工业安全、高效、绿色、智能的转型升级。

The paper presents a brief review of the gradual progress of the coal preparation plants, since the founding of the People′s Republic of China, in the aspects of plant design and construction, advances of coal cleaning technologies, raw coal treatment rate, and the entrusted missions, as well as the historical course of the country′s coal preparation industry starting from start-up and growth to transition from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development. Following that, some significant achievements obtained during the course of development of coal cleaning technologies, processes and equipment are briefly summarized. In the 50s of the 20th century, the coal preparation industry started to be established, for undertaking then the mission to supply cleaned coal for the iron and steel industry. In 1956, Tangshan Coal Research Institute and Tangshan Coal Preparation Design Institute (TCPDI) were established in succession. During the first and the second Five-Year Plan periods, six coal jigging plants were set up with technical assistance provided by the former USSR and Poland. In 1958, the first independently designed heavy-medium separation shop came into being. In 1959, an independently designed and built coal preparation plant made its debut, laying a foundation for the coal preparation industry of the country. In the 60s of the 20th century, ten plants with a total designed capacity of 16.4 Mt/a were introduced from Poland, making it possible for China to drastically increase its raw coal treatment capacity and to start using jigging + heavy medium separation + flotation combined processes in design of plants. In 1970 an independently designed and built plant which used all home-made equipment, the first of its kind in China, was set up, through which the experience for the development of the coal cleaning industry and related technologies was accumulated. In the period of 1980—2000, the coal preparation industry was in its growing stage with its mission focusing on energy conservation. Following the implementation of the reform and opening up policy, a large batch of large-sized plants operating with high-performance equipment and a high automation level were set up through independent innovation, assimilation of introduced foreign technologies and running plants in form of joint ventures with foreign partners, and also in this period, in the plants built according to the general design specifications complied by TCPDI for the design of the 1.8 Mt/a plant, the coal washing operation with closed washwater circuit was made preliminary possible. And complete sets of advanced washing equipment for the 3.0～4.0 Mt/a plants were also introduced from Germany, the U.S. and Poland, making it possible for such plants to operate with jigging + heavy-medium separation + flotation combined processes as a general practice. In 1987, the first extra-large 15.00 Mt/a power coal washing plant featuring the use of heavy-medium vessel plus heavy medium cyclone for respectively washing coarse coal and small coal was introduced from the U.S. Before 1990, the 1.8 Mt/a Jinyang plant operating with the use of ϕ710/500 3-product H.M. cyclone was introduced from the USSR. The introduction of complete sets of equipment from overseas countries helped promote to a large extent the growth of the coal preparation industry and the development of the related technologies. During the 9th Five-Year Plan period, a series of major research-derived achievements was obtained, for instance, in the development of new washing processes and equipment, allowing large-sized plants to operate with a simplified washing system featuring the use of large-size and highly efficient all-heavy medium washing equipment. This is more than sufficient to cater to the needs for the building of new plants and technical transformation of old plants each with an annual capacity of less than 4 million tons, all with the use of self-developed equipment, no matter what kind of coal was treated and what washing processes were employed therein. In 2000, the amount of raw coal treated totaled 337 million tons with a treatment rate of 33.7%. Among the different washing methods used, the jigging, heavy medium separation, flotation, and dry cleaning and other methods accounted for 52%, 28%, 14% and 6% respectively. Starting from the onset of the 21th century, as the source of clean coal technology and a crucial basis for realizing clean and high-efficiency utilization of coal, the coal preparation sector was seen to enter a rapid growth phase which was characterized by the predominant use of heavy medium separation method, emergence of large-size and intensive plants, sharp rise of power coal treatment rate, and transition of production of only fuel coal to production of both fuel coal and chemical materials. In the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the successful application of the all-wet, all-heavy-medium separation system with an annual capacity of over 10 million tons, the high-capacity dry cleaning technology, low-rank coal slime flotation technology and underground raw coal destoning technology pushed China′s coal preparation technology to stand globally at either forefront or a leading position. By 2020 the raw coal treatment rate and comprehensive utilization rate of refuse had reached 74.1% and 72.2%, respectively. Up to the year 2021, 2400-plus plants above the designated scale were in operation with an combined treating capacity of 3.4 billion tons a year, and the average treating capacity of an individual plant increased to 1.4 Mt/a from 300,000 t/a in 2000. The number of superlarge plants each having a capacity of over ten million tons a year amounted to 84, reaching an aggregate capacity of over 1.3 billion tons a year, which accounted for 38.2 percentage of the total raw coal treated in that year. Among the cleaning methods employed, the jigging heavy-medium separation, flotation, and dry cleaning and other methods accounted for 8%, 80%, 6%, and 6%, respectively. Several dozen of plants reached the medium level in terms of intelligentization. In order to meet the needs for reaching the strategic goals of achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, promote supply-side structural optimization, upgrade consumption-side energy efficiency, it is proposed to strengthen the research work on separation of macerals, dry cleaning of fine coal, upgrading of bulk low-rank coal slime, comprehensive utilization of refuse and making breakthrough in basic theory of coal preparation. Plus, endeavors should be made to clean all the coal that needs to be separated, so as to promote the transition and upgrading of the coal preparation industry to make it safer, greener, smarter and more efficient.