“ In today's sluggish global economic development, technological innovation and transformational development are inevitable requirements for the sustainable development of the steel industry& On May 8th, at the 7th China International Iron and Steel Conference, Zhang Xiaogang, President of the International Iron and Steel Association, Vice President of the China Iron and Steel Industry Association, and General Manager of Ansteel Group, stated; Only by taking a green and low-carbon development path can the world steel industry achieve sustainable development& rdquo;

“ Green and low-carbon; It's a development trend

The steel industry, as a major consumer of resources, energy, and environmental pollution in the world, is facing enormous pressure from resources, energy, and the environment. For example, one ton of steel consumes 600 to 800 kilograms of coal, 3.8 tons of water, and produces 1.7 tons of carbon dioxide, as well as some waste residue and pollutants during the production process.

According to statistics, in the past 10 years, the ratio of coal mining to storage in the world has decreased from 204 years in 2002 to 118 years in 2010, and the buried grade of global iron ore has decreased from 52.3% in 2002 to 48.3% in 2010. The exploitation of high-grade iron ore is large, which has greatly reduced the reserves of iron ore in the world. The development of the steel industry will continuously lead to a decrease in the world's non renewable resource reserves, and also bring severe challenges to itself.

China has produced a total of 6.5 billion tons of steel from 1949 to last year. According to the per capita steel consumption of developed market economies such as Japan and Germany at their peak during the development process, it is estimated that China would need to produce an additional 7.7 billion tons of steel to reach this level of development.

Therefore, in the foreseeable future, with the development of emerging developing countries, the world steel industry will still be at a high level of development, which will bring sustained pressure to the world's resources and environment. The steel industry will inevitably face new choices.

Zhang Xiaogang pointed out: "; Only by taking a green and low-carbon development path can the world steel industry achieve sustainable development& rdquo;

Four aspects of work should be strengthened to achieve green and low-carbon development

Zhang Xiaogang believes that the steel industry should strengthen the following four aspects of work in order to pursue green and low-carbon development.

Firstly, strengthen the development of new products and reduce the carbon dioxide emissions during the use of steel products. We will focus on developing various products such as automobiles, building structures, high-performance ship plates, bridges, oil pipes, pressure vessels, engineering machinery, special steel, etc., to meet the functional requirements of lightweight, high-performance and long-life, high strength and ultra high strength, fine grain and ultrafine grain steel, and accelerate the research pace of advanced structural materials, composite materials, and common basic materials. For example, in the past 5-10 years, the Hyundai project organized by the International Iron and Steel Association has reduced the weight of each vehicle by 15 kilograms.

Secondly, strengthen the research and development of process technology to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions during the manufacturing process of steel products. In terms of ironmaking, we should focus on low-cost and high-efficiency energy-saving blast furnaces, low-carbon ironmaking, utilization of inferior resources, and flue gas desulfurization technologies; In terms of steelmaking, we will focus on clean steel smelting, efficient converter blowing, oxide metallurgy, efficient continuous casting and near net shape continuous casting, steel nano technology, and other technologies; In terms of steel rolling, we should focus on high-precision, high-speed headless flexible rolling technology; Strengthen the comprehensive control theory and technical research on deformation, phase transformation, and precipitation in the steel production process.

Regarding someone saying, '; Steel is a sunset industry; Zhang Xiaogang stated that the development of IT and other technologies has provided new opportunities for the traditional steel industry in terms of materials, basic properties, phase transformation, deformation, and further research on the properties of steel& ldquo; As long as we make good use of the opportunities of high-tech development in the surrounding areas and achieve new breakthroughs in cross disciplinary fields, the steel industry will not be a sunset industry& rdquo; Zhang Xiaogang said.

Thirdly, develop green manufacturing technology, adhere to technological innovation, and reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of the steel industry system. Developing green manufacturing technologies around the lifecycle of steel products, achieving green development of iron and energy recycling, water resource recycling, and solid waste recycling, promoting efficient energy conservation, resource utilization, and comprehensive utilization of steel waste, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and advancing the development of green technologies in the steel industry; Green Manufacturing, Green Products, Green Management; The pace of development.

Fourth, enhance the efficiency of the industrial value chain system and promote the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in multiple fields. By strengthening collaborative cooperation with partners, distributors, and suppliers, the overall efficiency of the industrial value chain can be leveraged to enhance competitiveness.

Ansteel Bayuquan practices green development

Zhang Xiaogang introduced that Ansteel Bayuquan Iron and Steel Base adheres to the promotion of low-carbon economy, follows the concept of circular economy with coordinated development of economic growth, social progress, and environmental protection, fundamentally changes the traditional production process of high pollution and high consumption, and builds a clean steel factory that integrates the functions of steel product manufacturing, energy conversion, and the treatment and consumption of social bulk waste. Among them, the practical experience of Bayuquan Base in energy conservation and energy recycling is particularly commendable.

“ Steel is the most circular industry in the world, and through our joint efforts, green and low-carbon technologies for steel have made significant progress& rdquo; Zhang Xiaogang stated.

According to Zhang Xiaogang, in terms of system energy conservation, the Bayuquan base uses information technology as a platform to effectively combine information flow, material flow, and energy flow, enabling orderly flow of iron and promoting energy management and production management of the entire steel plant with minimal energy flow. From sintering to iron smelting, steelmaking, and steel rolling, the system achieves energy savings of 3% to 5%. In terms of energy-saving process technology, Bayuquan has adopted advanced energy-saving process technologies such as dry dust removal, automated steelmaking, and regenerative heating furnaces. It has established residual energy and waste heat utilization facilities covering the entire process, including CMC (coal moisture control technology), CDQ (dry quenching technology), TRT (blast furnace gas residual pressure turbine power generation), and gas boiler power generation, to achieve energy reduction, recycling, and reuse. The comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel has reached 560 kilograms of standard coal.

In terms of energy recycling, establish a waste heat and energy recovery system covering the entire process to achieve zero emission of gas and steam. Without its own thermal power plant and other power plants, Bayuquan Steel Plant has achieved a self generation ratio of 75% by utilizing CDQ, TRT waste heat power generation, wind power generation, and solar power generation. Through wind power generation, 31000 tons of standard coal are saved annually, 79000 tons of carbon dioxide are reduced, and the proportion of clean energy generation has reached 2.5%. Through the use of photovoltaics, 6000 tons of standard coal were saved and 16000 tons of carbon dioxide were reduced.

In terms of water recycling, Bayuquan provides 12000 tons of production water to steel mills every day through seawater desalination. The treated reclaimed water from the water treatment plant is diverted to the steel mills, and the three-level ladder is used to reduce the consumption of new water, achieving index optimization. The water recycling rate has reached 98%, and the consumption of new water per ton of steel has been reduced by 0.65 tons.

In terms of the recycling of secondary resources, Bayuquan has achieved 100% recycling of iron containing impurities and a solid waste recycling rate of 99.8% through the construction of an internal and social circular economy utilization chain.

It is reported that after implementing these low return on investment projects, Bayuquan Steel Plant achieved profitability from March to April, despite incurring losses from January to February this year& ldquo; This is a breakthrough, so it cannot be said that equipment with high consumption of clean energy, high investment, and short return period will definitely affect the efficiency of enterprises& rdquo; Zhang Xiaogang said. (Guo Xiaoyan, Zeng Qiaoqiao Source: China Metallurgical News)