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.

Carbon Monoxide Modulates Auxin Transport and Nitric Oxide Signaling in Plants under Iron Deficiency Stress

Carbon monoxide(CO)and nitric oxide(NO)are signal molecules that enhance plant adaptation to environmental stimuli.Auxin is an essential phytohormone for plant growth and development.CO and NO play crucial roles in modulating the plant’s response to iron deficiency.Iron deficiency leads to an increase in the activity of heme oxygenase(HO)and the subsequent generation of CO.Additionally,it alters the polar subcellular distribution of Pin-Formed 1(PIN1)proteins,resulting in enhanced auxin transport.This alteration,in turn,leads to an increase in NO accumulation.Furthermore,iron deficiency enhances the activity of ferric chelate reductase(FCR),as well as the expression of the Fer-like iron deficiency-induced transcription factor 1(FIT)and the ferric reduction oxidase 2(FRO2)genes in plant roots.Overexpression of the long hypocotyl 1(HY1)gene,which encodes heme oxygenase,or the CO donor treatment resulted in enhanced basipetal auxin transport,higher FCR activity,and the expression of FIT and FRO2 genes under Fe deficiency.Here,a potential mechanism is proposed:CO and NO interact with auxin to address iron deficiency stress.CO alters auxin transport,enhancing its accumulation in roots and up-regulating key iron-related genes like FRO2 and IRT1.Elevated auxin levels affect NO signaling,leading to greater sensitivity in root development.This interplay promotes FCR activity,which is crucial for iron absorption.Together,these molecules enhance iron uptake and root growth,revealing a novel aspect of plant physiology in adapting to environmental stress.

Discussion on Gas Safety Protection Management in Steel Plants

The necessity of establishing gas protection station in iron and steel works is demonstrated,issues of strengthening the management of gas safety protection,studying new technology of gas protection,adapting to the needs of modernization and building large scale and intelligent iron and steel works are discussed.Relevant sug-gestions are also put forward.

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.

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.

Impact of material and energy flow variation-based iron /steel ratio on production cost

This paper establishes a model for the production cost of iron and steel enterprise.The variation rule of the production cost versus the iron/steel ratio for two cases, namely,fixed steel production and a fixed amount of molten iron,is analyzed,and the concept of a steel scrap threshold price is proposed.According to the analysis results,when the steel scrap unit price exceeds the steel scrap threshold price, an increase in the iron/steel ratio can reduce the production cost,and vice versa.When the gap between the steel scrap unit price and the steel scrap threshold price is relatively large, the impact of the iron/steel ratio on the production cost is more prominent.According to the calculation example,when steel production is fixed （284 358 t/month）and the steel scrap unit price is 263.2 yuan/t more than the steel scrap threshold price,an increase of 0.01 in the iron/steel ratio causes a monthly production cost reduction of approximately 750 000 yuan （2.63 yuan/t）.When the amount of molten iron is fixed （270 425 t/month）and the steel scrap unit price is 140.7 yuan/t more than the threshold price,an increase of 0.01 in the iron/steel ratio causes a monthly production cost reduction of approximately 430 000 yuan （1.5 yuan/t）.The results indicate that iron and steel enterprise should adjust the production strategy in time when the scrap price fluctuates, and then the production cost will be reduced.

AtbHLH29 of Arabidopsis thaliana is a functional ortholog of tomato FER involved in controlling iron acquisition in strategy I plants

AtbHLH29 of Arabidopsis, encoding a bHLH protein, reveals a high similarity to the tomato FER which is proposed as a transcriptional regulator involved in controlling the iron deficiency responses and the iron uptake in tomato. For identification of its biological functions, AtbHLH29 was introduced into the genome of the tomato FER mutant T3238fer mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciencs. Transgenic plants were regenerated and the stable integration of AtbHLH29 into their genomes was confirmed by Southern hybridization. Molecular analysis demonstrated that expression of the exogenous AtbHLH29 of Arabidopsis in roots of the FER mutant T3238fer enabled to complement the defect functions of FER. The transgenic plants regained the ability to activate the whole iron deficiency responses and showed normal growth as the wild type under iron-limiting stress. Our transformation data demonstrate that AtbHLH29 is a functional ortholog of the tomato FER and can completely replace FER in controlling the effective iron acquisition in tomato. Except of iron, FER protein was directly or indirectly involved in manganese homeostasis due to that loss functions of FER in T3238fer resulted in strong reduction of Mn content in leaves and the defect function on Mn accumulation in leaves was complemented by expression of AtbHLH29 in the transgenic plants. Identification of the similar biological functions of FER and AtbHLH29, which isolated from two systematically wide-diverged “strategy I” plants, suggests that FER might be a universal gene presented in all strategy I plants in controlling effective iron acquisition system in roots.

Steel Slag as an Iron Fertilizer for Corn Growth and Soil Improvement in a Pot Experiment

The feasibility of steel slag used as an iron fertilizer was studied in a pot experiment with corn. Slag alone or acidified slag was added to two Fe-deficient calcareous soils at different rates. Results showed that moderate rates (10 and 20 g kg-1) of slag or acidified slag substantially increased corn dry matter yield and Fe uptake. Application of steel slag increased the residual concentration of ammonium bicarbonate-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (AB-DTPA) extractable Fe in the soils. The increase of extractable Fe was usually proportional to the application rate, and enhanced by the acidification of slag. Steel slag appeared to be a promising and inexpensive source of Fe to alleviate crop Fe chlorosis in Fe-deficient calcareous soils.

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.

Some Aspects in the Development of High Performance Refractories for Iron and Steel Making in China

In the past 25 years in China, to meet with the rapid increase in steel production accompanied by adoption of advanced metallurgical technologies, there has been fast development of China＇ s refractories industry in production capacity, in quality improvement and in development of new products. Sophisticated high performance refractory materials mainly based on our rich reserves of magncsite, bauxite and flake graphite have been developed, such as carbon-bonded products, high purity oxide products, bauxite-based low creep and high strength high alumina bricks and LC, ULC and ZC castables. They have been used in blast furnaces, BOFs, EAFs, secondary refining and continuous casting with considerable improvement in service pecformance.

Centrifugal Casting of High Speed Steel/Nodular Cast Iron Compound Roll Collar

The centrifugal casting of compound HSS/nodular cast iron roll collar was studied,and the factors affecting transition zone quality were analyzed.The pouring temperature and interval in pouring are the main factors affecting transition zone quality.By controlling process parameter and flux adding during casting,high quality roll collar was obtained.The cause,why in the casting of HSS part,segregation appears easily,was analyzed and the countermeasure eliminating segregation was put forward,the measure eliminating heat treatment crackling was also put forward.

Optimization for vehicle scheduling in iron and steel works based on semi-trailer swap transport

In order to solve internal logistics problems of iron and steel works,such as low transportation efficiency of vehicles and high transportation cost,the production process and traditional transportation style of iron and steel works were introduced.The internal transport tasks of iron and steel works were grouped based on cluster analysis according to demand time of the transportation.An improved vehicle scheduling model of semi-trailer swap transport among loading nodes and unloading nodes in one task group was set up.The algorithm was designed to solve the vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pick-up and delivery(VRPSPD) problem based on semi-trailer swap transport.A solving program was written by MATLAB software and the method to figure out the optimal path of each grouping was obtained.The dropping and pulling transportation plan of the tractor was designed.And an example of semi-trailer swap transport in iron and steel works was given.The results indicate that semi-trailer swap transport can decrease the numbers of vehicles and drivers by 54.5% and 88.6% respectively compared with decentralized scheduling in iron and steel works,and the total distance traveled reduces by 43.5%.The semi-trailer swap transport can help the iron and steel works develop the production in intension.

Fabrication of plain carbon steel/high chromium white cast iron bimetal by a liquid–solid composite casting process

High-chromium white cast iron （HCWCI） is one of the most widely used engineering materials in the mining and cement industries. However, in some components, such as the pulverizer plates of ash mills, the poor machinability of HCWCI creates difficulties. The bimetal casting technique is a suitable method for improving the machinability of HCWCI by joining an easily machined layer of plain carbon steel （PCS） to its hard part. In this study, the possibility of PCS/HCWCI bimetal casting was investigated using sand casting. The investigation was conducted by optical and electron microscopy and non-destructive, impact toughness, and tensile tests. The hardness and chemical composition profiles on both sides of the interface were plotted in this study. The results indicated that a conventional and low-cost casting technique could be a reliable method for producing PCSYdCWCI bimetal. The interfacial microstructure comprised two distinct lay- ers： a very fine, partially spheroidized pearlite layer and a coarse full pearlite layer. Moreover, characterization of the microstructure revealed that the interface was free of defects.

A process-level hierarchical structural decomposition analysis (SDA) of energy consumption in an integrated steel plant

A hierarchical structural decomposition analysis(SDA) model has been developed based on process-level input-output(I-O) tables to analyze the drivers of energy consumption changes in an integrated steel plant during 2011-2013. By combining the principle of hierarchical decomposition into D&L method, a hierarchical decomposition model for multilevel SDA is obtained. The developed hierarchical IO-SDA model would provide consistent results and need less computation effort compared with the traditional SDA model. The decomposition results of the steel plant suggest that the technology improvement and reduced steel final demand are two major reasons for declined total energy consumption. The technical improvements of blast furnaces, basic oxygen furnaces, the power plant and the by-products utilization level have contributed mostly in reducing energy consumption. A major retrofit of ancillary process units and solving fuel substitution problem in the sinter plant and blast furnace are important for further energy saving. Besides the empirical results, this work also discussed that why and how hierarchical SDA can be applied in a process-level decomposition analysis of aggregated indicators.

Optimal dynamic dispatch of surplus gas among buffer boilers in steel plant

As valuable energy in iron-and steel-making process,by-product gas is widely used in heating and technical processes in steel plant.After being used according to the technical requirements,the surplus by-product gas is usually used for buffer boilers to produce steam.With the rapid development of energy conservation technology and energy consumption level,surplus gas in steel plant continues to get larger.Therefore,it is significant to organize surplus gas among buffer boilers.A dynamic programming model of that issue was established in this work,considering the ramp rate constraint of boilers and the influences of setting gasholders.Then a case study was done.It is shown that dynamic programming dispatch gets more steam generation and less specific gas consumption compared with current proportionate dispatch depending on nominal capacities of boilers.The ignored boiler ramp rate constraint was considered and its contribution to the result validity was pointed out.Finally,the significance of setting gasholders was studied.

Electrolytic surface hardening of steel, cast iron and aluminium-bronze

Electrolytic hardening process was developed in USSR in the 1950s. The process was developed but was not commercially exploited. There is no evidence of work done on this process in India. The author has done this original work applied to different materials like steel, cast iron and aluminum-bronze. This paper gives details of microstructural transformations along with hardness value achieved. There is vital scope for this process to become viable for surface hardening and selective hardening of small components.

RESEARCH ON THE APPLICATION OF RARE EARTHS IN IRON AND STEEL IN RECENT YEARS

China has the biggest rare earths resource in the world,no wonder she pays much at-tention to the application of rare earth metals (REM).The application of REM in iron andsteel in China began at the end of 1950’s.The production of REM-treated iron and steelhad been made steady progress in the period of 1980’s.The production of REM-treatediron and steel in 1989 was 1.4 million tons and 250,000 tons respectively.The interest oftreating steel with REM in China keeps growing even in these years,It comes from the nat-

Effects of sphere size on the microstructure and mechanical properties of ductile iron–steel hollow sphere syntactic foams

The effects of sphere size on the microstructural and mechanical properties of ductile iron–steel hollow sphere（DI–SHS） syntactic foams were investigated in this study. The SHSs were manufactured by fluidized-bed coating via the Fe-based commercial powder–binder suspension onto expanded polystyrene spheres（EPSs）. Afterwards, the DI–SHS syntactic foams were produced via a sand-mold casting process. The microstructures of specimens were investigated by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy（EDS）. The microscopic evaluations of specimens reveal distinct regions composed of the DI matrix, SHS shells, and compatible interface. As a result, the microstructures and graphite morphologies of the DI matrix depend on sphere size. When the sphere size decreases, the area fractions of cementite and graphite phases are observed to increase and decrease, respectively. Compression tests were subsequently conducted at ambient temperature on the DI–SHS syntactic foams. The results reveal that the compression behavior of the syntactic foams is enhanced with increasing sphere size. Furthermore, the compressed specimens demonstrate that microcracks start and grow from the interface region.

Application of BAIRD Photoelectric Spectrometer in Quantitative Analysis of Iron and Steel

BAIRD SPECTROVAC 2000(DV 5) consisting of new type of HR-400 high repeat rate spark spectrosource, air cooled sample stand and an annular purged tungsten counter electrode has been used continuously in the lab for many years and resulted in good economic benefits. The paper describes the application of the spectrometer in quantitative analysis of cast iron and steel products, and the experience and technique may be helpful to those who are using the same kind of instrument.

Effect of Ball Scribing on Iron Loss of CGO and HGO Electrical Steel

The effect of ball scribing on iron loss of conventional grain-oriented ( CGO) and high-permeability grain-oriented ( HGO) electrical steel was investigated. In this paper,ball scribing was achieved by self- designed ball scribing instrument and a computer-controlled system capable of providing high accuracy and automatic measurements was developed for the magnetisation and measurement at high and low flux densities. The results showed that after ball scribing,iron loss of two types of steel ( C711 and H668 ) apparently decreases ( 5. 5% and 8. 2% respectively after 16mm scribing at 1. 2T) ,and at high and low flux densities, CGO and HGO electrical steel performs differently. Through the formation and development of free magnetic poles and secondary magnetic domains due to compressive stress,primary magnetic domain spacing of grain- oriented electrical steel becomes smaller,which reflects as a reduction of iron loss in the macroscopic magnetic properties. Through iron loss formula derivation,the effect of domain refinement on grain-oriented electrical steel was also interpreted.