An Integrated Analysis on the Synergistic Reduction of Carbon and Pollution Emissions from China’s Iron and Steel Industry

Decarbonization and decontamination of the iron and steel industry(ISI),which contributes up to 15%to anthropogenic CO_(2) emissions(or carbon emissions)and significant proportions of air and water pollutant emissions in China,are challenged by the huge demand for steel.Carbon and pollutants often share common emission sources,indicating that emission reduction could be achieved synergistically.Here,we explored the inherent potential of measures to adjust feedstock composition and technological structure and to control the size of the ISI to achieve carbon emission reduction(CER)and pollution emission reduction(PER).We investigated five typical pollutants in this study,namely,petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants and chemical oxygen demand in wastewater,particulate matter,SO_(2),and NO_(x) in off gases,and examined synergies between CER and PER by employing cross elasticity for the period between 2022 and 2035.The results suggest that a reduction of 8.7%-11.7%in carbon emissions and 20%-31%in pollution emissions(except for particulate matter emissions)could be achieved by 2025 under a high steel scrap ratio(SSR)scenario.Here,the SSR and electric arc furnace(EAF)ratio serve critical roles in enhancing synergies between CER and PER(which vary with the type of pollutant).However,subject to a limited volume of steel scrap,a focused increase in the EAF ratio with neglection of the available supply of steel scrap to EAF facilities would lead to an increase carbon and pollution emissions.Although CER can be achieved through SSR and EAF ratio optimization,only when the crude steel production growth rate remains below 2.2%can these optimization measures maintain the emissions in 2030 at a similar level to that in 2021.Therefore,the synergistic effects between PER and CER should be considered when formulating a development route for the ISI in the future.

Operation and Management of Electrical Equipment in Iron and Steel Enterprises

How to ensure the reliable operation of the complex and huge electrical system composed of a large number of electrical equipment in iron and steel enterprises?Combined with working experience,the author introduces four main factors affecting the normal operation of equipment,analyzes five main problems existing in the operation and management of electrical equipment,and puts forward corresponding improvement measures,so as to improve the management level of electrical equipment in iron and steel enterprises.

New Industrialization Path： The Strategic Choice of Chinese Iron and Steel Industry

The fact-developing iron and steel industry provides the base for China economy to grow continually, stably and healthily for many years. This paper analyzes the situation and the disparity, which the iron and steel industry faces, and attests that the new industrialization path is the strategic choice for the Chinese iron and steel industry to develop continuously, and carries on the thorough discussion to the connotation of this choice.

Does Environmental Regulation Weaken Industrial Competitiveness?Inspirations from China’s Iron and Steel Sector

China＇s economic growth is heavily influenced by exports, while reconciling environmental regulation and economic growth requires handling the relationship between environmental regulation and industrial competitiveness well. The effects of environmental regulation on industrial competitiveness are largely subject to the institutional design of environmental regulation. Despite numerous studies on the relationship between environmental regulation and industrial competitiveness, a consensus has yet to be reached. Aside from differences in research methodology, these studies failed to give sufficient consideration to the impact of environmental regulation on industrial competitiveness. Such effects can be negative or positive depending on the design of environmental regulatory policy. This paper has investigated the relationship between environmental regulation and the competitiveness of China＇s iron and steel industry and discovered that tighter environmental regulation does not diminish the competitiveness of the iron and steel industry since the policy design of environmental regulation accommodates the tolerance of advanced production capacity and includes a reasonable cost sharing mechanism. This discovery is of important reference for China to develop rational policy design to balance the relationship between environmental regulation and industrial competitiveness.

Current situation of carbon emissions and countermeasures in China's ironmaking industry

The iron and steel industry(ISI) involves high energy consumption and high pollution. ISI in China, a leading country in the ISI,consumed 15% of the country’s total energy and produced more than 50% of the global ISI’s carbon emissions. Therefore, in the context of global low-carbon economy and emission reduction requirements, low-carbon smelting technology in the ISI has attracted increasingly more attention in China. This review summarizes the current status of carbon emissions and energy consumption in China’s ISI and discusses the development status and prospects of low-carbon ironmaking technology. The main route to effectively reducing carbon emissions is to develop a gas-based direct reduction process and replace sintering with pelletizing, both of which focus on developing pelletizing technology. However,the challenge of pelletizing process development is to obtain high-quality iron concentrates. Consequently, the present paper also summarizes the development status of China’s mineral processing technology, including fine-grained mineral processing technology, magnetization roasting technology, and flotation collector application. This paper aims to provide a theoretical basis for the low-carbon development of China’s ISI in terms of a dressing–smelting combination.

Highlights of Recent Advances in Refractories for Iron and Steel Industry in China

Recently procured outstanding achievements in iron and steel industry in China are presented by data or facts in steel output, energy consumption, technical and economical indicators and advanced technologies that are being adopted. The latest achievements in refractonries for this biggest user industry are reviewed, covering new refractories for CDQ coke oven, BF hearth, AOD Lining, long life tundish, SEN for clean steel making and regenerative reheating furnace . The reciprocal relationship is obvious that the rapid development of iron and steel industry has given an impetus to the advance of refractories industry, which in return has contributed greatly to the former.

Waste heat recovery from hot steel slag on the production line:Numerical simulation,validation and industrial test

Waste heat recovery from hot steel slag was determined in a granular bed through the combination of numerical simulation and an industrial test method.First,the effective thermal conductivity of the granular bed was calculated.Then,the unsteady-state model was used to simulate the heat recovery under three different flow fields(O-type,S-type,and nonshielding type(Nontype)).Second,the simulation results were validated by in-situ industrial experiments.The two methods confirmed that the heat recovery efficiencies of the flow fields from high to low followed the order of Nontype,S-type,and O-type.Finally,heat recovery was carried out under the Nontype flow field in an industrial test.The heat recovery efficiency increased from~76%and~78%to~81%when the steel slag thickness decreased from 400 and 300 to 200 mm,corresponding to reductions in the steel slag mass from 3.96 and 2.97 to 1.98 t with a blower air volume of 14687 m^(3)/h.Therefore,the research results showed that numerical simulation can not only guide experiments on waste heat recovery but also optimize the flow field.Most importantly,the method proposed in this paper has achieved higher waste heat recovery from hot steel slag in industrial scale.

Discussion on Abnormal Corrosion and Material Selection of Hot Iron Ladles with Steel Scrap Addition

The abnormal corrosion of hot iron ladles was investigated.The performance,the composition and the structure of bricks for hot iron ladles were analyzed.The results show that(1)compared with the alumina-silicon carbide-carbon bricks for the ladle bottom,those for the ladle wall have more pyrophyllite and the Al2O3 content of 36.32 mass%;their bulk density,apparent porosity and cold compressive strength are lower than the requirement of industry standard;they have poor anti-oxidation performance and are oxidized to form a porous layer during service,which loosens the brick lining structure thus leading to fracture,local wear and structural damage of bricks;(2)without preheating,steel scraps are not completely melted,resulting in slag or steel attachment at the mouth or the bottom of ladles thus increasing damage of ladles;(3)and the residual bricks react with the attached slag to form low melting point phases affecting their hot properties.The refractories for the lining of hot iron ladles must be improved in combination with process changes,not entirely by raw materials replacement to reduce costs.

Eco-transformation of steel industry in China: from the perspective of industrial ecology and circular economy

Recently the behavior of human has resulted in the deterioration of global ecological environment, and global warming and environmental pollution have caused the occurrence of extreme events frequently If we repeat the reckless environmental overkill, civilization will enter a victous circle of decline and lose even the strength and vitality to live in harmony with the environment. At Present, China is in a speciat period of rapid economic develop- ment. Some enterprises focus on short-term profits and don＇t formulate long-term strategies. For example, with the rapid expansion of the steel industry, some serious problems have emerged. Based on principles of industrial ecology and the concept of circular economy, to develop a new development model, taking a new road to industrialization is very necessary. Re-examining the current steel enterprises, this＇ paper proposes the new methods of the integration of material, energy integration, water system integration and sharing of information and facilities. Through ecologi- calization of technology, system, and industrial structure and product structure adjustment, the eco-transformation of the modern steel industry will be gradually achieved in China

Forecasting and optimal probabilistic scheduling of surplus gas systems in iron and steel industry

To make full use of the gas resource, stabilize the pipe network pressure, and obtain higher economic benefits in the iron and steel industry, the surplus gas prediction and scheduling models were proposed. Before applying the forecasting techniques, a support vector classifier was first used to classify the data, and then the filtering was used to create separate trend and volatility sequences. After forecasting, the Markov chain transition probability matrix was introduced to adjust the residual. Simulation results using surplus gas data from an iron and steel enterprise demonstrate that the constructed SVC-HP-ENN-LSSVM-MC prediction model prediction is accurate, and that the classification accuracy is high under different conditions. Based on this, the scheduling model was constructed for surplus gas operating, and it has been used to investigate the comprehensive measures for managing the operational probabilistic risk and optimize the economic benefit at various working conditions and implementations. It has extended the concepts of traditional surplus gas dispatching systems, and provides a method for enterprises to determine optimal schedules.

A Glimpse of Iron and Steel Industry of China in Recent Years

The paper briefs the recent development of China＇ s Iron ＆ Steel Industry from the view of a refractorie., worker. Some data and statistics have been revealed in the paper including total output of steel, geological distribution of key steel enterprises, productivity, facilities, technical and economical indices as well as technical advance achieved in. the last ten years. Structural adjustment and consolidation occurred in China＇s Iron ＆ Steel industy has also been described. The views on how much steel is demanded in China in the near future advanced by a steel expert has been accepted as the conclusion of the paper.

Prospects for green steelmaking technology with low carbon emissions in China

The steel industry is a major source of CO_(2) emissions,and thus,the mitigation of carbon emissions is the most pressing challenge in this sector.In this paper,international environmental governance in the steel industry is reviewed,and the current state of development of low-carbon technologies is discussed.Additionally,low-carbon pathways for the steel industry at the current time are proposed,emphasizing prevention and treatment strategies.Furthermore,the prospects of low-carbon technologies are explored from the perspective of transitioning the energy structure to a“carbon-electricity-hydrogen”relationship.Overall,steel enterprises should adopt hydrogen-rich metallurgical technologies that are compatible with current needs and process flows in the short term,based on the carbon substitution with hydrogen(prevention)and the CCU(CO_(2) capture and utilization)concepts(treatment).Additionally,the capture and utilization of CO_(2) for steelmaking,which can assist in achieving short-term emission reduction targets but is not a long-term solution,is discussed.In conclusion,in the long term,the carbon metallurgical process should be gradually supplanted by a hydrogen-electric synergistic approach,thus transforming the energy structure of existing steelmaking processes and attaining near-zero carbon emission steelmaking technology.

Current Situation and Prospect of High Performance Refractories for Iron and Steel Industry in China

The development,physicochemical properties and application effectiveness of new high performance refractory products used in iron and steel industry in recent years are summarizedThe new products include carbon-containing oxides,non-oxides,functional refractories,low cement and ultra-low cement castables etc.It is pointed out that quality of refractory products needs to be improved and high performance varieties be developed.Meanwhile,research should be done on composite materials and composite structures,equipment techniques and optimization control of refractory production should be strengthened as well.

Discussion of Environmental Problem and Study of Environmental Impact on Steel Industry in China

The environmental conditions in steel industry were discussed in detail.It was also pointed out that it was necessary to reduce the quantity of waste generated and discharged by improving the raw material,energy structure and consumption rate,and reinforcing the waste control and management.At the same time,the relevant mathematical models of environmental impact were set up on the basis of raw material consumption,energy consumption and waste generation and discharge in different technical routes of steelmaking.The result showed that the production route of DR-iron clearly has more environmental advantages over that of BF-hot metal.

CDM Project Activities in China's Iron and Steel Industry:Current Status,Barriers and Development Strategies

China is now facing huge pressure from both the domestic concern of energy security and the global community's call for emission reduction commitment.As one of the major energy consumers and greenhouse gas emitters,China's iron and steel industry has a huge clean development mechanism(CDM) potential.This article both quantitatively and qualitatively analyzes the current status of CDM project activities in the iron and steel industry in China,including characteristics of approved project types,applicable methodologies,and potential technology fields.From the perspective of project implementation,the article summarizes development barriers such as high investment risk,difficulty in project identification,strict requirements on PPDs,long registration waiting time,and etc.Policy suggestions are also put forwarded to help better promote the development of CDM projects in the iron and steel industry.

Development Tendency of the Refractories for Iron & Steel Industry in China

This paper introduces the developing tendency of refractories for iron and steel industry combined with the new metallurgical techniques applied in iron and steel industry in China. Refractories for blast furnace long service life, smelting reduction iron-making process, secondary refining metallurgies and clean steel making, near net shape continuous casting are described respectively. To meet the requirement of iron and steel industry, the high quality, multi-functions and environment-friendly refractories with long service llfe will be focused and developed in the future. In addition, high grade refractories in China have great developing space and potential market.

The Prospects of Uganda’s Iron Ore Deposits in Developing the Iron and Steel Industry

Uganda aspires to exploit its abundant iron ore resources to supply the required raw material for developing its iron and steel industry across all the phases of the value chain. The country imports USD 369 million worth of iron and steel products annually, 60% of which are raw materials for the steel processing plants. The National Planning Authority, the government planning agency, undertook a study to assess the possibility of using the iron ore deposits available in the country, as a source of supply for iron and steel production. In the study, available geological literature was collected from various sources and analysed in order to understand the mode of iron ore mineralization in Uganda, particularly, that in the South West. A field excursion to the deposits was conducted in order to ground truth the information obtained from literature research;carry out a detailed reconnaissance study so as to benchmark the likely scenarios required in the development of the iron and steel value chain;and establish the likely mining and processing requirements of the deposits. The reconnaissance survey confirmed the existence of hematite deposits that visually show characteristics of high-quality iron ore (55% - 68% Fe) suitable for iron production. From surficial investigations, the deposits are mainly comprised of thin beds of mineralisation. The deposits occur in the form of massive hematite, which is amenable to mining and direct feed to the ore processing plants, and specularite hematite (a metamorphic platy variety), which normally requires mineral processing for amenability to reduction processes. From the analysis, the country has sufficient deposits of a high grade that can support a steel industry, though more detailed quantifications and characterisations need to be prioritised by the government.