The steel industry is promoting green and low-carbon transformation

Remarkable results have been achieved in the transformation of ultra-low emissions

China is the world's largest steel producer and consumer, and the steel industry has a heavy responsibility to promote green and low-carbon development.

From the perspective of the emission status of atmospheric pollutants, in 2020, the emissions of nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and sulfur dioxide in China's ferrous metal smelting and rolling industry will account for 22.3%, 12.1% and 16.4% of the national industrial sources, respectively.

From the perspective of carbon emission status, China's steel industry carbon emissions accounted for about 15% of the national total, is the largest carbon emission industry in 31 categories of manufacturing.

From the current situation of energy consumption, the energy efficiency level of China's steel industry has continued to improve in recent years, the comprehensive energy consumption of tons of steel has declined year by year, the energy consumption of the main production process has gradually decreased, and the energy conservation and carbon reduction are being comprehensively promoted.

Recently, the 2023 (14th) Steel Industry Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Forum with the theme of "extreme energy efficiency, pollution reduction and carbon reduction" was held in Beijing. "The task of the steel industry is transformation and upgrading, green and low-carbon is the direction of transformation, but green and low-carbon is not an important work in the industry, but a system engineering covering the whole field and throughout the whole process." He Wenbo stressed.

At present, the three major transformation projects of capacity replacement, ultra-low emission transformation and extreme energy efficiency that are being implemented in the steel industry all reflect the green and low-carbon theme. Capacity replacement is to optimize the spatial layout and process layout of the entire steel industry, and the process itself is to achieve high-end, intelligent and green steel industry. Ultra-low emissions and extreme energy efficiency are themselves the goal of green and low-carbon.

The air pollutant discharge of iron and steel industry has the characteristics of long production process, numerous discharge nodes, large differences in discharge conditions, and many types of pollution factors. China's steel industry has achieved remarkable results in atmospheric governance by promoting ultra-low emission transformation, implementing differentiated environmental control and fine environmental management.

As of June 30, 2023, more than 270 enterprises in China have completed or are implementing ultra-low emission transformation of about 760 million tons of crude steel production capacity; 62 iron and steel enterprises with 314 million tons of crude steel production capacity completed the entire process of ultra-low emission transformation and publicity; 25 completed some ultra-low emission transformation and publicity. The emission intensity of air pollutants from China's key iron and steel enterprises is basically lower than that of international advanced iron and steel enterprises.

"Air pollution control has provided an effective boost for the steel industry to improve quality and efficiency." Liu Bingjiang, chief engineer of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, spoke with data: compared with steel enterprises that did not achieve ultra-low emissions, the profit margin of steel enterprises that achieved ultra-low emissions was at least 1 percentage point higher.

Summarizing the experience of green and high-quality transformation of the steel industry in the first 10 years, it can be summarized as "supporting the best and eliminating the bad" four words, and this policy will continue. Liu Bingjiang said that the current situation of air pollution is still serious, the risk of disguised new production capacity still exists, structural problems have not been fundamentally solved, and the contradiction between supply and demand balance is prominent, and the differentiation of green development levels between enterprises has intensified. China's steel industry to reduce pollution and carbon, green high-quality transformation task is still difficult. The whole industry should maintain strategic focus, continue to promote the green and high-quality development of the steel industry, and strive to achieve four "strengthening" : strengthen the reform achievements, continue to consolidate the supply-side structural reform achievements; Strengthen the determination of high-quality and ultra-low emission transformation, and promote the synergistic effect of reducing pollution and carbon; Strengthen the standardized operation management of enterprises; We will strengthen demonstration and application of common technologies for reducing pollution and carbon.

Focus on ultimate energy efficiency

Whole-process energy efficiency improvement is the steel industry's current carbon reduction priority. Ding Zhijun, deputy director of the Department of Energy Conservation and Comprehensive Utilization of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology attaches great importance to the energy conservation and green low-carbon transformation of key industries such as steel, always adhere to the priority of energy conservation, energy conservation and efficiency as the most direct, the most economical and the most effective carbon reduction measures, and accelerate the promotion of high-quality development.