Posted on 27 Sep 2023
Chinese steel mills are exploring various technologies to reduce carbon emissions during the steelmaking process, and breakthroughs have already been achieved among leading steelmakers, according to Jiang Wei, vice-chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).
Addressing delegates at the Asia Steel Forum 2023 in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam last week, Jiang highlighted China's "2C" goals for the steel industry, namely, to reach the peak of carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.
"Due to the established energy structure and limited supply of steel scrap, in the short term it is difficult for China's steelmakers to widely replace traditional blast furnace (BF) capacity with electric-arc-furnace capacity," Jiang admitted.
Under such circumstances, technology optimization and innovation in present steelmaking processes will be a key solution to the reduction of carbon emissions in the industry, according to Jiang.
"Many large-sized steelmakers in China have made remarkable progress in their development of 'green' technologies such as hydrogen metallurgy and near-net-shape steel manufacturing," he stressed.
For example, earlier this year HBIS Group, a top-tier steel mill headquartered in North China's Hebei province, achieved continuously safe production of oxygen rich/full hydrogen gas-based direct reduced iron (DRI), with the metallization rate in the products being not less than 94%, Jiang pointed out. Compared with those from a BF of the same production capacity, a steel shop incorporating HBIS's DRI technology can reduce CO2 emissions by more than 70%, he added.
Also this year, China's largest steelmaker Baowu Group has launched a demonstration project that involves transforming a 2500 cubic m BF into a hydrogen-enriched carbonic oxide recycling oxygenate furnace (HyCROF), Jiang told delegates. This is expected to reduce the furnace's solid fuel consumption and carbon emissions by 30% and 20% respectively, he said.
In fact, Baowu had already successfully commenced operations on its pioneering 400 cu. m HyCROF in July 2022, and is now installing the technology in a 2500 cu m furnace, as Mysteel Global reported.
Meanwhile, more steel production projects involving clean energy utilization and resource recycling have been launched by domestic steelmakers, and these are likely to effectively reduce the steel industry's carbon emissions overall in the future, Jiang noted.
"With the various low-carbon technologies being applied to steel manufacturing processes, China's steel industry will head toward the '2C' goals with firmer momentum," he said.
Source:Mysteel Global
