How to become a Coke Oven Operator
Official Chinese title (2022 occupational classification): 炼焦工
Also called: Coke Oven Bench Worker, Coke Oven Machine Driver, Coke Screening and Handling Worker, Dry Quenching Operator, Coke Oven Heater, Coke Oven Gas Cleaning Operator, Hydrofinishing Operator
Runs coke ovens and their machines to make coke and cleans coke oven gas.
Main tasks
- Charging coal or coal cakes into ovens with charging cars or stamp chargers and sweeping up spilled coal
- Checking ovens with instruments and heating equipment and measuring and adjusting oven temperature
- Opening and closing oven doors with pusher and guide cars and pushing coke into quench cars or coke buckets
- Putting out smoke and fire at oven doors and frames with tools
- Receiving hot coke in quench cars or buckets and quenching it with water or sending it to dry quenching
- Cooling hot coke with inert gas in dry quenching equipment and recovering heat
- Cleaning ascension pipes and gooseneck pipes with tools and watching raw gas temperature and pressure
- Repairing oven doors and checking their condition with special equipment and tools
- Handling and moving coke with discharge and screening equipment
- Removing tar, naphthalene, hydrogen sulphide, benzene and more from raw gas with condensing, cooling and recovery equipment and cooling and sending gas on
- Hydrotreating, extracting and distilling tar and benzene mixtures with hydrofinishing equipment
- Servicing equipment, fixing faults and keeping production records
Ways in
- Vocational majors: Secondary vocational school (中职) major: Comprehensive Coal Utilisation Technology (620505). Vocational major 620505 Comprehensive Coal Utilisation Technology (煤炭综合利用技术), 3 years. The Ministry of Education's 2022 major profiles list this occupation among those the major prepares students for (职业面向). Example certificates: Clean and Efficient Coal Utilisation.
Pay · AI and this job
- Median pay in China: CN¥85,000 a year (2025).
- Middle half: CN¥58,100 to CN¥127,900. One in ten earn less than CN¥44,300 and one in ten more than CN¥174,700.
- This is the figure for the mid group Petroleum Processing, Coking and Coal Chemical Workers, not for this job alone.
- National figure: wage prices of enterprise employees from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) enterprise pay survey. The public sector and the self-employed are not covered.
- Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Who does this work
- The census group Petroleum Processing, Coking and Coal Chemical Workers holds 0.05% of everyone employed in China; 18.8% of its workers are women (2020 Census).
- 35% are under 35, 56.5% are 35 to 54 and 8.5% are 55 or older. The middle age band is 40 to 44.
- Census figures for the whole mid group (2020 long-form sample), not for this job alone.
Related jobs
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Questions people ask
How do I become a Coke Oven Operator?
Ways in include: Secondary vocational school (中职) major: Comprehensive Coal Utilisation Technology (620505).
How much does a Coke Oven Operator earn in China?
Across China, the median pay of enterprise employees is CN¥85,000 a year (Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS), 2025). The public sector and the self-employed are not covered. It is the figure for the mid group Petroleum Processing, Coking and Coal Chemical Workers.
Will AI change the work of a Coke Oven Operator?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS): 2025 enterprise pay survey information: wage prices of enterprise employees by occupation mid group, and digital occupations (P10 to P90 annual CNY) (2025 (published 2026-07-08)), retrieved 5 October 2026
- National Bureau of Statistics of China: China Population Census Yearbook 2020, long-form tables 4-6 and 4-7 (employed by occupation mid group, sex, age) (2020 Census long form (10% sample)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Sources: Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition, public consultation draft), Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, State Administration for Market Regulation and National Bureau of Statistics; Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, 2025 enterprise pay survey information; Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2025 labour market wage prices; National Bureau of Statistics of China (www.stats.gov.cn), 2020 Population Census yearbook; Ministry of Education, vocational education major profiles (2022 revision) and undergraduate major catalogue (2025); Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, national vocational qualifications catalogue (2021); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Figures processed by Peernovo. English text, translations and the matching of occupations to ISCO-08, majors, degree fields and qualifications by Peernovo.
Descriptions and tasks are Peernovo's own words, written from the facts in the Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition). Job titles and work types are the classification's own.
Updated 5 October 2026