Posted on 01 Jun 2021
Carbon neutral in steelmaking can only be achieved via multidimensional cooperation among related parties including steel producers, research and development (R&D) centres, engineering companies, and IT providers, which is essential to fulfil the target by mid or late 21th century, according to the delegates at the 11th China International Steel Congress in Shanghai on May 27.
At the conference, speakers shared the latest development in technological and facility upgrading, and breakthroughs in steelmaking process in reducing carbon emission in steelmaking, which was applauded by the attendees, strongly believing that cooperation along the industrial value chain on a global scale is necessary, though it is still in the initial stage.
He Wenbo, executive chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) agreed, suggesting the world’s top-tier steel producers to work closely together in the new technology R&D to achieve low-carbon emission.
“Not many steel mills in the world have the capability to conduct the research (in the aspect) on their own, so it is sensible and feasible for those that are with the bandwidth to take a united move,” he proposed.
Other than R&D, it is also crucial to share and promote the new technology once developed, He added, commenting, “Effective publicizing the new technology will accelerate the pace in achieving low carbon emission, but it is rather unfortunate that some existing results have failed to be widely adopted in the industry and benefit the world as a whole either due to the lack of platforms or the artificially-built constraints”.
WSA, thus, should be taking an active role in motivating the world’s leading steel producers to assist the developing countries in achieving low carbon steelmaking at an earlier date via the means of technology sharing, funding, training and operations.
Yu Yong, chairman of the World Steel Association (WSA) called for when presenting at the event.
Not only industrial associations, many Chinese companies expressed their readiness to work together with other leading companies in the world on the path to the green development in the steel industry.
“Low-carbon steelmaking technology requires ground-breaking and evolutionary changes, whereas the existing technology or steelmaking processes are no longer be able to reduce carbon emission substantially,” Zou Jixin, chairman of Baoshan Iron & Steel, the listed arm of China Baowu Steel Group shared at the event.
New energy with hydrogen in particular has faced the hindrance from being widely used in the global steelmaking because of the high cost, he elaborated, emphasizing the importance of cooperation in technology among various parties globally.
Baowu Group, now the world’s top steel producer in steel capacity, has been actively promoting its Global Green and Low-carbon Metallurgy Alliance, a global platform that Baowu initiated in Monterrey of Mexico in October 2019 at the WSA annual event, facilitating open sharing of innovative ideas and breakthroughs in low carbon technology, he added.
Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC), China’s top metallurgical construction and engineering company, is another leading company in the country’s steel value chain that has been actively exploring new technologies such as new energy metallurgy and carbon dioxide recycling to reduce carbon discharge in steelmaking, Qu Yang, vice chairman of MCC shared at the event.
MCC, accounting for an over 90% share in China’s metallurgical projects or an over 60% share in the world’s metallurgical sector, has been the core contractor of many steel projects in and out of China including China Baowu’s Zhanjiang works, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel project in Vietnam, the Alliance Steel in the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park of Malaysia, and the PT Krakatau Steel project in Indonesia, he elaborated.
By now, MCC had been granted 2,037 patents in green and low-carbon emission and energy saving, according to Qu.
In low-carbon steelmaking, IT companies such as Inspur Group, can be a valuable contributor too, Peng Zhen, the CEO of Inspur Information, the listed arm of Inspur Group, pointed out.
“Digitalization, Artificial Intelligence and 5G can all assist the steel industry in realizing carbon neutral if we can collect ample data to build up simulation models based on different scenarios,” he said, adding that open-mindedness, inclusiveness, and investment are also essential.
Inspur group, headquartered Jinan, East China’s Shandong province, is the country’s leading cloud computing and big data service provider covering four large industry groups of cloud data center, cloud services & big data, smart city, and smart enterprises, with its services covering both the government organizations and enterprises in more than 100 countries and regions.
Meanwhile, though, the cooperation in low-carbon steelmaking has been rather limited and the future remains unclear especially regarding in-depth cooperation especially in technology.
“General technology and superficial knowledge can be shared freely, but core technology, in reality, can be rather sensitive and highly confidential for some individual steelmakers, and such reluctance will need to be addressed by the industrial associations or role models need to be set by the leading steel mills,” an engineer from a steel mill in East China told Mysteel Global on the sidelines of the conference.
Source:Mysteel Global
