The latest research results show that carbon dioxide in China’s iron and steel industry will peak during the 14th Five Year Plan period and gradually decline thereafter. However, the realization of low-carbon transformation of the iron and steel industry still faces “triple obstacles” such as difficulties in process transformation, lack of systematic and scientific management and weak technological innovation in energy conservation and emission reduction.
The Chinese Academy of iron and steel and the Chinese Academy of environmental planning and the Ministry of environment will hold an international meeting to speed up the transformation of low-carbon industries, and put forward suggestions to the Central Institute of iron and steel industry and the Ministry of environment, Tsinghua University.
Wang can, a professor at the school of environment of Tsinghua University, believes that the low-carbon transformation of the iron and steel industry plays a vital role in China’s realization of the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutralization. It is necessary to study the development path and technical roadmap of China’s iron and steel industry under the “double carbon” goal in advance.
“the 14th five year plan” to achieve peak carbon emissions
The steel industry is an important source of carbon dioxide emissions in China. Due to its large scale and production process characteristics, China’s iron and steel industry has made outstanding contribution to carbon dioxide emission. It is estimated that China’s steel industry accounts for about 15% of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions in energy activities, which is second only to the power industry.
According to the national statistical yearbook data since 2000, the average annual growth rate of China’s crude steel and pig iron production is 11.1% and 10% respectively. The share of China’s crude steel output in the global total output increased from 15% to 57%, and the share of pig iron output increased from 23% to 63%.
Wang Xuying, an assistant researcher of the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of ecological environment, said that as a typical resource and energy intensive industry, the iron and steel industry accelerates the green and low-carbon transformation, achieves the carbon peak as soon as possible and effectively reduces carbon, which is not only the internal need of the industry’s self height and quality development, but also the objective requirement to support the realization of the national carbon peak and carbon neutralization goalsP align = “center” source: Environmental Science Research
Wang Xuying introduced that since the eleventh five year plan, China has implemented the strategy of energy conservation and emission reduction in the iron and steel industry. Especially during the 13th Five Year Plan period, the iron and steel industry has deeply promoted the supply side structural reform, made positive progress in energy conservation and consumption reduction and ultra-low transformation, and the comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel has continued to decline.
According to the statistics of China Iron and Steel Industry Association, in 2020, the comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel of China’s key iron and steel enterprises was 545.27 kg / ton (based on standard coal), a decrease of 4.9% over 2015.
Nevertheless, the attribute of China’s iron and steel industry as a resource and energy intensive industry has not changed. For a long time, the production mode of China’s iron and steel industry has been dominated by long-process steelmaking, which is highly dependent on iron ore resources, coal, coke and other energy, resulting in prominent resource and energy consumption.
Li Bing, senior engineer of metallurgical industry planning and Research Institute, who has been engaged in energy-saving and low-carbon research in the iron and steel industry for many years, said that as the world’s largest steel producer and consumer, China’s iron and steel industry will continue to operate at a high level in the future, bringing further pressure to carbon emission control, and the green and low-carbon transformation of the industry is imminent.
The calculation results of the above institutions show that the total carbon dioxide emission of China’s iron and steel industry is expected to peak between 2020 and 2024.
low carbon transformation has “triple obstacles”
On March 1, a proposal on accelerating the low-carbon transformation and development of the iron and steel industry published by the Central Committee of the Democratic Progressive Party said that the iron and steel industry is a typical industry with “high investment, high energy consumption and high emission”. Huge fossil energy consumption and high carbon emissions restrict the development of the iron and steel industry, and also bring great challenges to China’s realization of the dual carbon goal. The proposal will soon be submitted to the fifth session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee.
The proposal reflects that there are still “triple obstacles” to the low-carbon transformation of China’s iron and steel industry:
First, the carbon emission of the current steel smelting process is too high and the transformation of steel-making process is difficult. At present, the vast majority of Chinese iron and steel enterprises use the blast furnace converter long process. Compared with long process steelmaking, the energy consumption and three wastes emission of electric furnace short process steelmaking are greatly reduced. However, the supply of scrap raw materials required in China is limited, and there are obstacles to scrap import. The bottleneck of raw material supply makes it difficult to further improve the proportion of steelmaking capacity of electric furnace process.
Second, China’s iron and steel industry is large but not strong, and the industrial management is not systematic and scientific. In recent years, the surge in China’s demand for steel products has promoted the development of the steel industry. However, as a whole, there are still some problems, such as overcapacity, low added value of products, import of key materials, low energy efficiency, prominent contradiction between emission and environmental carrying capacity, insufficient comprehensive utilization of resources and so on.
Third, the technological innovation of energy conservation and emission reduction is weak, and the ecological efficiency of iron and steel enterprises is insufficient. China’s iron and steel industry has focused on scale expansion for many years, and energy-saving and emission reduction technologies focus more on the introduction of low-cost technologies. There is an obvious gap between China and developed countries in terms of iron and steel recycling technology, and the ratio of slag and steel slag produced in the steelmaking process to be reprocessed and utilized is not high. The energy utilization rate of iron and steel process is not high, the utilization rate of smelting waste heat is low, and there is no significant effect in the utilization of low-temperature waste heat. The recovery rate of waste heat and energy in most iron and steel enterprises is less than 50%.
Data comparison shows that in 2020, China’s EAF steel output accounted for only about 10% of crude steel output, which is far behind the United States (71%), the European Union (42%) and the global average (26%); The steel scrap ratio is only 22%, which is also significantly lower than that of developed countries and regions such as the United States, the European Union and Japan (30% ~ 70%).
Li Bing believes that crude steel output is the key to determine whether the carbon emission of China’s iron and steel industry can reach the peak quickly. Increasing the utilization of scrap resources, promoting the cleaning of purchased power and improving the system energy efficiency level are important ways for the iron and steel industry to reach the peak of carbon emission and effectively reduce carbon before 2030.
increase the utilization of scrap resources
Li Bing said that in the future, the supply of scrap resources in China will gradually increase. We should give full play to the substitution of scrap steel for iron ore in the iron and steel smelting process and promote its implementation as the core measure of the carbon emission peak action of the iron and steel industry.
The first financial reporter also saw in an interview with an iron and steel enterprise in Guizhou at the end of last year that the enterprise is making steel with a large amount of recycled waste steel. “Energy consumption and emissions are at least half lower than that of the whole process production.” The relevant person in charge of the enterprise said.
The research shows that the utilization of scrap resources is conducive to the further adjustment of the production structure of the iron and steel industry, the proportion of electric furnace steel will gradually increase, and the carbon dioxide emission of the iron and steel industry can be significantly reduced. In addition, technologies such as hydrogen steelmaking and carbon dioxide capture, utilization and storage (CCUs) also provide space for low-carbon and even zero carbon development of the iron and steel industry.
The research results of the above institutions show that by 2030, the contribution rates of cutting-edge technologies such as reducing crude steel output, increasing the utilization of scrap resources, promoting the cleaning of purchased power, improving system energy efficiency and hydrogen steelmaking and CCUs to carbon dioxide emission reduction in the iron and steel industry will be 11% ~ 52%, 34% ~ 52%, 7% ~ 20%, 5% ~ 13% and 2% ~ 3% respectively.
The above proposal of the Democratic Progressive Central Committee also suggests adjusting the raw material and energy structure of the iron and steel industry. Increase the proportion of steelmaking capacity of electric furnace process, increase the proportion of short process smelting, and improve the scrap standard system. Increase the proportion of renewable energy in the transformation of national power industry; Formulate a scientific and reasonable energy consumption index system.
At the same time, combined with the carbon market trading mechanism, iron and steel enterprises are encouraged to implement terminal treatment projects such as CCUs with reliable technology and reasonable cost, do a good job in the accounting of carbon removal stock and increase and decrease in carbon trading, and promote emission reduction by economic means; Strengthen the guidance of scientific and technological innovation in the iron and steel industry. Give full play to the smelting advantages of iron and steel enterprises, and use high-temperature incineration to participate in the treatment of urban garbage and hazardous waste.
On February 27 this year, the implementation plan on accelerating the comprehensive utilization of industrial resources issued by eight departments including the Ministry of industry and information technology, the national development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of ecological environment also proposed to implement the standardized management of the comprehensive utilization of renewable resources such as waste steel. Encourage large-scale iron and steel enterprises to cooperate with renewable resource processing enterprises to build integrated large-scale green processing and distribution centers such as waste iron and steel; Provide land support for qualified industrial resources comprehensive utilization projects. Support qualified industrial resources comprehensive utilization projects to apply for green credit and issue green bonds.
