A subversive change from "carbon metallurgy" to "hydrogen metallurgy"

Recently, the Hesteel Zhangxuan Technology hydrogen energy development and utilization engineering demonstration project designed by MCC Jingcheng has undergone safe, smooth and continuous production, and the metallization rate of high-purity direct reduced iron has stabilized at more than 94%, and the indicators have reached the international first-class standards, marking the world's first 1.2 million tons of hydrogen metallurgy engineering demonstration project phase I project success. It also marks the transformation of China's steel industry from the traditional "carbon metallurgy" to the new "hydrogen metallurgy" to take a subversive, demonstrative and key step, opening a new era of green, low-carbon and intelligent development of the steel industry.

From the start of construction on May 10, 2021, to the completion and operation of the full line on December 16, 2022, the first phase of the world's first 1.2 million tons hydrogen metallurgical engineering demonstration project jointly developed and constructed by Hesteel Group and TENOVA (Italy) and MCC Jingcheng was completed and put into operation in Zhangxuan Technology of Hesteel Group. It unlocked a new application scenario for the comprehensive utilization of hydrogen energy in the world. In this project, for the first time in the world, the high-pressure shaft furnace zero reforming hydrogen metallurgy technology with coke oven gas as reducing gas is adopted. The hydrogen carbon ratio in the process gas is as high as 8∶1, and the metallization rate of the product - green and high purity direct reduced iron is more than 94%, reaching the international first-class standard. Compared with the same BF long process production, carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced by 800,000 tons per year, and the emission reduction ratio can reach 70%. China Iron and Steel Industry Association pointed out in its congratulatory letter that this is a major breakthrough in the core key technology innovation of hydrogen metallurgy, an important milestone in the history of China's steel and even the world's steel history from the traditional "carbon metallurgy" to the new "hydrogen metallurgy" transformation, leading the steel industry into the era of "hydrogen instead of coal" smelting "green steel".

Approaching the world's first 1.2 million tons of hydrogen metallurgy engineering demonstration project, you can see that behind it, it is the breakthrough shackles of restructuring the energy system, the responsibility of boldly breaking into no man's land of innovation, and the collection of wisdom and strength of intelligent construction.

Reconstructing energy use system

Breaking the ceiling on carbon reduction in steel

In recent years, climate change has become the focus of continuous global attention, and countries are committed to promoting carbon emission reduction actions. As a major carbon emitter, the traditional steel industry is facing increasingly severe carbon emission reduction tasks. The energy carrier of traditional steel production mainly comes from carbon elements, so the gas emissions of the steel industry are mainly carbon oxides. From a global perspective, in 2022, the global steel industry carbon emissions of about 2.8 billion tons, accounting for about 8% of the global energy system emissions, China's steel industry carbon emissions contributed to the global steel carbon emissions of more than 60%, accounting for about 15% of the national total carbon emissions, is China's manufacturing sector in the field of carbon emissions in the industry. It can be seen that the carbon emission reduction task of the steel industry is very difficult, and promoting the carbon reduction of the steel industry is the key focus area of China's "double carbon" goal. After years of development, the production technology of China's iron and steel industry has reached the world-class level, and the energy saving and carbon reduction space centered on improving the efficiency of carbon energy utilization has tended to be small, which means that through traditional process technology innovation to promote the long process production of blast furnace to reduce carbon has almost touched the ceiling.

On May 17, 2023, the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) officially came into effect, meaning that many industries such as steel and cement will be levied a "carbon tax". According to the forecast, the export cost of China's steel industry will increase by 4% to 6%, which is roughly $200 million to $400 million. At the same time, the steel downstream industry is also increasingly concerned about the carbon emissions of steel products, such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and other automobile companies have asked steel suppliers to provide life cycle evaluation reports of automotive panel products, and put forward "green steel" requirements. This means that if the carbon emissions of the steel industry cannot be reduced as soon as possible, it will not only directly affect the international competitiveness of steel products through the "carbon cost increase", but also affect the green development of the downstream manufacturing and construction industry through the "carbon footprint". Therefore, to achieve breakthrough carbon reduction in steel production, it is necessary to start from the source of energy. The new concept of reconstructing the energy system for steel production has pointed out a new direction for breaking the ceiling of low-carbon emission reduction in metallurgy.