What will the steel industry contribute to peak carbon dioxide emissions?

The low-carbon development of the steel industry has an important impact on peak carbon dioxide emissions in the industrial sector and even the country. From the perspective of industry development itself, the peak carbon dioxide emissions of the steel industry should be realized in terms of optimizing production capacity structure, energy structure, and process technology. This is a long process and an urgent task for the iron and steel industry, but as long as it is carried out and done practically, it will definitely be able to see a bright future.

 

Recently, the data released by the China Iron and Steel Association showed that from January to September this year, the total profit of the steel enterprises of the China Iron and Steel Association was 319.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.23 times. In September, the national daily output level of crude steel fell to the lowest value in the past three years, and the output reduction policy took effect.

 

Reduction and improvement of quality have become the most distinctive feature of my country’s steel industry this year, and it is also the only way for the steel industry to promote peak carbon dioxide emissions. The carbon emissions of my country’s steel industry account for more than 60% of the total carbon emissions of global steel and about 15% of the total carbon emissions of the country. It is the industry with the largest carbon emissions among the manufacturing sectors in the country. Therefore, the low-carbon development of the steel industry has an important impact on the industrial sector and even the national carbon peak. From the perspective of industry development itself, the peak carbon dioxide emissions of the steel industry should be realized in terms of optimizing production capacity structure, energy structure, and process technology.

 

First of all, the peaking of steel production capacity and output is a basic factor and a key factor for peak carbon dioxide emissions in the steel industry. Since the beginning of this year, on the basis of strict control of new production capacity and strengthening of total energy control, the state has formulated an industrial policy for the annual crude steel output not to be higher than last year’s goal and restricting the export of large quantities of steel. As the effect of the policy became apparent, China’s crude steel production accounted for a decline in the global share in the first eight months of this year. Looking back at the past few years and looking forward to the future, “dual control” of steel production capacity and output is the keynote of the entire industry. With the implementation of policies such as strict implementation of capacity replacement, prohibition of new capacity, promotion of inventory optimization, and elimination of outdated capacity, the “peak production” will be the foundation of the steel industry’s peak carbon dioxide emissions.

 

Secondly, the resource changes and technological changes in steel production are the vital and potential factors of peak carbon dioxide emissions in the steel industry. At present, the long process structure of blast furnaces and converters in my country’s steel industry still dominates, with an average carbon emission per ton of steel reaching about 2 tons; compared with that, the short process process of electric furnaces has significantly less carbon emissions per ton of steel. The two different processes have different process structures and different required resources. The former is mainly iron ore, and the latter is mainly scrap steel. For a long time, an important factor restricting the transformation of my country’s steelmaking process has been insufficient scrap steel resources. According to the law of industrial development, my country’s steel stock will continue to increase, which means that scrap steel resources will also become abundant day by day.

 

The “Carbon Peaking Action Plan by 2030” issued by the State Council recently pointed out that it will promote structural optimization of the steel industry and clean energy substitution, vigorously promote the demonstration of non-blast furnace ironmaking technology, improve the level of recycling and utilization of scrap steel resources, and implement the all-scrap electric furnace process. Experts from the China Scrap Steel Application Association believe that in 2020, my country’s steel-making scrap ratio will reach 21%, and from January to August this year, the steel-making scrap ratio will reach 23.1%. Although the vertical comparison has been greatly improved compared with the past, the horizontal comparison is still far from the international level. With the accumulation of steel stocks in the whole society toward the “steel peak”, there is still a lot of potential for the utilization of scrap steel in my country in the future. This will bring about changes in the structure of the steel production process, which will not only reduce the dependence on iron ore resources, but also It will become an important focus for the steel industry to promote peak carbon dioxide emissions.