The cumulative investment in ultra-low emission transformation exceeds 150 billion, and the steel industry is facing difficulties in reducing pollution and carbon

　　The cumulative investment in ultra-low emission transformation exceeds 150 billion yuan——

　　The iron and steel industry is facing difficulties in reducing pollution and carbon

　　Our reporter Zhou Lei

　　At present, the ultra-low emission transformation of my country's steel industry is in full swing.

As of the end of July this year, a total of 251 enterprises across the country with a crude steel production capacity of about 681 million tons have completed or are implementing ultra-low emission transformation.

According to incomplete statistics, the cumulative investment in ultra-low emission transformation of iron and steel enterprises across the country has exceeded 150 billion yuan.

　　"Energy saving and emission reduction is one of the important tasks for the transformation and development of the steel industry. It is not only the core connotation of the green development of the industry, but also the specific starting point for enterprises to lay a foundation for survival, win market competition, and plan long-term development." Secretary of the Party Committee of China Iron and Steel Association, Executive Committee At the 2022 China Iron and Steel Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Forum held recently, Chang He Wenbo said that the iron and steel industry has achieved remarkable results in energy conservation and emission reduction, but there are still many challenges and difficulties to be dealt with.

　　Huge investment and remarkable results

　　To win the battle to defend the blue sky, the steel industry has to gnaw on "hard bones".

In 2019, five ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Implementation of Ultra-Low Emissions in the Iron and Steel Industry", promoting the industry to strive to complete the transformation of more than 80% of its production capacity.

According to the requirements, the ultra-low limit of organized emission of the whole process is 33% to 83% stricter than the current domestic standards. Compared with the current standards of European and American countries, the ultra-low limit in my country is the same as the particle emission concentration of individual nodes. Most indicators All are better than similar foreign standards.

　　Up to now, 30 enterprises across the country and 172 million tons of crude steel production capacity have completed the whole-process ultra-low emission transformation and evaluation and monitoring work.

22 enterprises completed part of the transformation and announced it on the website of China Iron and Steel Association.

　　"The ultra-low emission transformation of my country's iron and steel industry is progressing well as a whole, and the remarkable achievements and important contributions made are obvious to all." Liu Bingjiang, director of the Atmospheric Environment Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, pointed out that iron and steel enterprises have made great efforts and invested a lot of money. Monitoring and other aspects have been comprehensively upgraded and transformed, and a large number of garden-style factories have emerged, which has greatly changed the whole society's understanding of iron and steel enterprises.

　　Air quality in areas where steel production capacity is concentrated has improved significantly.

Compared with 2013, the PM_2.5 concentration of 10 cities with concentrated steel production capacity in the country will drop by an average of 59% in 2021.

In particular, in Hebei, the largest steel province, the PM_2.5 concentration in 2021 will drop by 62.5% compared with 2013, and the number of heavily polluted days will be reduced by 87%, ranking among the highest in the country.

　　The overall governance level of iron and steel enterprises has improved rapidly.

Flue gas desulfurization, denitrification and dust removal in self-provided coal-fired power plants, coke ovens, and sintering have become standard. The escape points of particulate matter such as material transfer and material transfer are generally hermetically sealed.

In addition, the vigorous promotion of railway transfer and new energy heavy trucks has effectively improved the level of clean transportation in the logistics link of the iron and steel industry.

　　Pollution reduction and carbon reduction have the same root and the same source, and need to be promoted collaboratively.

As a major carbon emitter in the manufacturing industry, the low-carbon transformation of the steel industry has been carried out in an orderly manner.

China Iron and Steel Association proposed a carbon-neutral metallurgical roadmap and officially released the "Double-Carbon" Vision and Technology Roadmap for China's Iron and Steel Industry; established a low-carbon work promotion committee in the iron and steel industry, and launched an environmental product declaration (EPD) platform for the iron and steel industry. From multi-level, multi-angle, multi-field to gather the industry's low-carbon transformation and development synergy.

Leading enterprises have released a low-carbon development action route, actively promoted the research and development and demonstration of large-scale decarbonization technology routes, and cooperated with upstream and downstream industries to jointly promote energy structure reform.

　　Industry pressure and challenges increase

　　The ultra-low emission transformation of the iron and steel industry is an important starting point for promoting the "dual carbon" work.

Liu Bingjiang emphasized that the national level attaches great importance to the ultra-low emission transformation of the steel industry, and has included it as a major project in the national "14th Five-Year Plan".

This major air pollution prevention and control project will force iron and steel enterprises to merge and reorganize and upgrade equipment, improve the overall green and low-carbon development level of the iron and steel industry, and help to leverage effective social investment and stabilize economic growth.

　　According to data released by the China Iron and Steel Association, my country has basically completed the main transformation project of steel production capacity of nearly 400 million tons, and the cumulative investment in ultra-low emission transformation has exceeded 150 billion yuan.

Before 2025, 800 million tons of steel production capacity transformation project will be completed, and there are still about 400 million tons to be implemented. Based on the average investment of 360 yuan per ton of steel, an additional investment of not less than 150 billion yuan is required.

　　It is worth noting that since the beginning of this year, the market situation of the steel industry has been severe, and it has encountered difficulties and problems such as weakening demand, high prices of raw materials and fuels, and a sharp decline in the economic benefits of enterprises.

From January to July this year, the total profit of key member companies of China Iron and Steel Association was 93.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 63.4%.

In July, the entire industry suffered monthly losses. The key member companies of China Iron and Steel Association reported a loss of 9.6 billion yuan. Among the 90 companies included in the statistics, 63 lost money that month.

The decline in the efficiency of steel enterprises has had a certain impact on the promotion of ultra-low emission transformation and the exploration of low-carbon transformation, which is mainly reflected in the two aspects of capital investment and future expectations.

　　He Wenbo said that in the face of the severe impact of the market, the current benefits of iron and steel enterprises have plummeted. Whether the planned construction projects can be carried out as scheduled, and whether there will be adjustments to the plans by iron and steel enterprises, are issues worthy of attention at present, and different enterprises will have different method of disposal.

The association has cooperated with relevant state departments to start a comprehensive follow-up investigation.

　　With the deepening of energy conservation and emission reduction in the iron and steel industry, the difficulty of work is also increasing.

Higher requirements for pollutant discharge, energy saving and consumption reduction have entered a development bottleneck period, and low-carbon transformation is facing multiple tasks and goals, all of which are challenges that enterprises cannot avoid.

　　Judging from the progress of ultra-low emission transformation in the steel industry, key areas are expected to be basically completed by the end of 2022.

Recently, Hebei Province took the lead in proposing that on the basis of the completion of 12 iron and steel enterprises to achieve A, it will take 3 years to realize the comprehensive creation of A in Hebei iron and steel enterprises.

At the same time, the overall requirements for ultra-low emission transformation are gradually increasing. Compared with the previous version of the standard, the new version of the "Ultra-low Emission Standard for Air Pollutants in the Iron and Steel Industry" implemented by Hebei Province has requirements for particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other aspects. A substantial increase.

　　From the perspective of the low-carbon transformation of the iron and steel industry, the “1+N” policy system for the “dual carbon” goal has been gradually established, and a series of comprehensive, basic and guiding documents have been issued one after another. For example, “by 2025, the proportion of production capacity above the energy efficiency benchmark level of ironmaking and steelmaking processes will reach 30%”, “the proportion of short-process steelmaking will reach more than 15% by 2025, and more than 20% by 2030”, etc. The low-carbon transformation work faces the pressure of high-quality transformation under the background of multiple goals, with tight time and heavy tasks.

　　Firm confidence to face difficulties

　　Facing the new situation and new challenges, my country's steel industry must face up to the difficulties, strengthen confidence, make concerted efforts, unswervingly continue to carry out ultra-low emission transformation, and strive to build the world's largest clean steel production base.

"The more in the trough of the industry, the more companies should work hard to improve their comprehensive competitiveness, and take the crisis as an opportunity to turn pressure into a driving force." Liu Bingjiang said.

　　According to He Wenbo's analysis, market pressure will promote the collaborative research and development of common technologies in the environmental technology and engineering industries, and promote the popularization and application of mature technologies, thus turning crisis into opportunity.

To this end, iron and steel enterprises should achieve the overall optimization of technical solutions and project progress through evaluation; the government should further optimize policy orientation, strengthen rewards for the superior and punish the inferior, and promote the survival of the fittest.

"Two promotions" are positive effects that may be brought about by market shocks, and "two optimizations" (optimizing implementation plans and optimizing policy orientation) are necessary measures to achieve and strengthen such effects.

　　As a leading enterprise in the iron and steel industry, HBIS Group has formed a multi-process, multi-pollutant ultra-low emission control technology route in the treatment of flue gas pollutants during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, and the main energy and environmental indicators are at the leading level in the industry.

Its technological achievements have been identified as the international leading level, and won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award.

"Hesteel is building a new generation of full-process green and intelligent steel base, and promotes synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction through technological process changes." Li Yiren, deputy general manager of HBIS Group, said that Zhangxuan Technology, a subsidiary of HBIS, is implementing the world's first hydrogen metallurgy Industrialization demonstration project, the first phase of the project is expected to be put into operation before the end of 2022.

By the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan", HBIS Group will form a hydrogen metallurgy capacity of 3.8 million tons of clean steelmaking raw materials.

　　Guided by major demands in the field of ecological environment, HBIS Group actively builds a platform for technological innovation and industrialization of ecological environment.

On May 31 this year, the Dahe Ecological Environment Technology Group Co., Ltd. established by it was unveiled.

As the "first state-owned and state-owned enterprise platform" in the field of ecological and environmental protection in Hebei Province, the company will give full play to its advantages in resources, financing, management, and talents, and make efforts in strategic consulting, technological innovation, and industrial services.

　　From the perspective of development trend, as the pace of survival of the fittest in the steel market accelerates, the competitiveness gap between enterprises is widening, and there will be a parallel trend of differentiation and integration.

How to coordinate the dynamic balance under multiple goals and achieve greater development in the green and low-carbon transition will be a big test for the steel industry.

　　The data shows that compared with the enterprises that have not completed the ultra-low emission, the environmental protection operation cost per ton of steel is more than 100 yuan.

"Under the situation that environmental protection costs are rising and profit levels are falling sharply, the difference in cost may lead to bad money driving out good money." Fan Tiejun, president of the Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute, reminded that ultra-low emission transformation (including enterprises that have completed the transformation) should be Comprehensive consideration, system optimization, overall design, and precise control, while stably achieving ultra-low emission requirements, minimize energy consumption and material consumption, reduce pollution and carbon, and reduce costs and increase efficiency.

　　"The implementation of pollution reduction and carbon reduction has taken the first step in the low-carbon development of the steel industry." Fan Tiejun suggested that in the face of the synergistic task of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, it is necessary to make full use of the impact of "creating A" in the environmental performance of steel enterprises. It combines the management of waste gas, waste water, solid waste and other pollutants with the carbon emission goals and considers them as a whole to form policy requirements and policy environment with clear tasks, comprehensive perspectives and unified standards, and truly make A-level enterprises become the green development of iron and steel enterprises. "Benchmark" to achieve the role of demonstration and leading.