China's coal mines generate billions of cubic metres of water each year, and researchers say much of that resource could potentially be redirected toward cooling the country's rapidly expanding data-centre infrastructure. In a review published in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering titled The feasibility and prospects of coal mine water as a cooling medium for data centers , researchers led by Zaining Li assessed whether treated coal mine water could replace municipal make-up water in liquid-cooled data centres. They estimate that China's data centres could consume more than 3 billion cubic metres of water annually by 2030, while coal mine water generation could reach an estimated 12.96 billion cubic metres that year. The authors conclude that, after appropriate treatment, the resource has sufficient quantity and potentially suitable quality for data-centre cooling, although they identify pilot-scale implementation as the next step. This innovative research demonstrates how repurposing industrial byproducts can address critical resource constraints, offering a promising circular-economy solution to data centers' rapidly growing water consumption demands.
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