On August 25, seven departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially released the "Work Plan for Steady Growth of the Iron and Steel Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), emphasizing once again that the iron and steel industry is a fundamental and pillar industry of the national economy and is a It is an important field related to the stable growth of industry and the smooth operation of the economy. At the same time, the "Program" puts forward 12 work measures, including supporting and guiding the orderly development of electric furnace steel, referred to as "12 Steel". (Click to view the details: Heavy! Seven departments jointly issued the "Work Plan for Steady Growth of the Iron and Steel Industry")
At present, the output of electric furnace steel accounts for about 10% of my country's crude steel output. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 250 short-process electric furnace steelmaking enterprises in my country, of which nearly 200 are all-scrap electric furnace steelmaking enterprises. With the "Industrial Carbon Peak Implementation Plan" put forward the target requirements of "by 2025, the proportion of short-process steelmaking will reach more than 15%; by 2030, the proportion of short-process steelmaking will reach more than 20%", the provinces , municipalities directly under the Central Government) have also proposed that the proportion of short-process steelmaking should reach 5% to 20% in the documents such as "Carbon Peak Implementation Plan", "Industrial Field Carbon Peak Implementation Plan", and "Comprehensive Work Plan for Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction". The goal.
The second half of the "double carbon" of my country's iron and steel industry needs to rely on the vigorous development of electric furnace steelmaking to achieve carbon neutrality after the carbon peak. A large proportion of green electric all-scrap electric furnace steelmaking and hydrogen-based direct reduced iron with a large proportion of green electric electric furnace steelmaking is, in a sense, a synonym for the production of "green steel".
In May of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Ecology and the Environment and the Sichuan Provincial Government jointly held the National Electric Furnace Short-process Steelmaking Promotion Conference in Luzhou City, Sichuan Province, to further focus and implement the "Implementation Plan for the High-Quality Development Leading Project of Electric Furnace Short-process Steelmaking" . In terms of supporting and guiding the orderly development of electric furnace steel, the new "plan" issued by seven ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology emphasizes the acceleration of the implementation of the high-quality development leading project of short-process electric furnace steelmaking, and once again clarifies the implementation of differentiated capacity replacement for all-scrap electric furnace steelmaking projects , environmental management and other policies to create a world-leading electric furnace steel industry cluster.
The establishment and development of electric furnace steel industry clusters need to rely on electric furnace steelmaking enterprises that adopt the production process of all scrap steel electric furnace smelting. Whether the proportion of short-process steelmaking can reach the standard as scheduled, electric furnace steelmaking enterprises will play a vital role. Electric furnace steelmaking enterprises have the ability to create superior benchmarking enterprises, and must also undertake the important historical mission of forming a superior benchmarking enterprise in electric furnace steelmaking that can replicate the promotion model. The high-quality development of electric furnace steelmaking enterprises will also become a booster and stabilizer for the high-quality development of the steel industry. Promoting the effective improvement of the quality and the reasonable growth of the quantity of electric furnace steel is inseparable from the electric furnace steelmaking enterprise, which will play a key leading and demonstration role in the implementation of the "12 steel regulations", and will also become an in-depth implementation of the "two unwavering" embodiment.
Viewing the development status of electric furnace steel in my country from the perspective of process
According to incomplete statistics, my country's electric furnace steel production capacity is about 200 million tons, but in 2022 the output of electric furnace steel is less than 100 million tons, and the capacity utilization rate is about 50%. From January to July this year, the average operating rate of all scrap steel electric furnaces in my country exceeded 75%. %, the average capacity utilization rate remains at about 50%, and electric furnace steelmaking enterprises are hovering between meager profits and losses. On the one hand, electric furnace steelmaking enterprises did not encounter large-scale and long-term power outages caused by high temperatures this summer, and the average operating rate of electric furnaces remained at a high level; on the other hand, the average capacity utilization rate of electric furnaces has been at a low level, mainly due to steel The downstream market price situation is not good, the price of scrap steel resources is high and the supply is insufficient, and the price of energy is high and many other factors. From the process point of view, it is very easy to start the construction of electric furnace steelmaking equipment to realize "long to short" through capacity replacement, which means that there is no problem at all to achieve the goal of short-process steelmaking accounting for more than 15% by 2025 However, this does not mean that 15% of my country's crude steel output is produced by electric furnaces, because the raw material factors such as the supply and price of scrap steel for the production of electric furnace steel, and the rising energy price factors such as electricity have resulted in the cost of electric furnace steel being higher than that of converter steel. There is almost no advantage in cost. The "bottleneck" factors restricting the development of electric furnace steelmaking cannot be well improved, and it is difficult to make a good breakthrough in terms of the process ratio of electric furnace steelmaking in a short period of time.
Looking at the Development Situation of Electric Furnace Steel in my country from the View of Equipment
On July 14, 2023, the National Development and Reform Commission issued an announcement regarding public consultation on the "Guiding Catalog for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2023 Version, Draft for Comment)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Catalogue"). The "Catalogue" stipulates that the restricted electric furnace steelmaking equipment is "electric arc furnace with a nominal capacity of 30 tons or more and 100 tons (alloy steel 50 tons) or less". This policy has been implemented since 2011 and has not been adjusted.
According to incomplete statistics, since the implementation of the "Implementation Measures for Capacity Replacement in the Iron and Steel Industry" on June 1, 2021, as of the end of July 2023, through the implementation of capacity replacement, a total of 66 electric furnace steelmaking equipment have been built, newly built or to be built. The total nominal capacity is 6,430 tons, and the average nominal capacity of each piece of equipment is 97.4 tons, which is already close to 100 tons. It shows that my country's electric furnace steelmaking equipment is advancing rapidly on the road to large-scale development, and has well implemented the requirements of the "Catalogue". However, it must also be noted that not all newly-built equipment has a nominal capacity of more than 100 tons, and some equipment is still used to produce alloy steel due to constraints such as production capacity, which circumvents the limit of a nominal capacity of not less than 100 tons.
Since 2017, with the help of a total of 140 million tons of "floor steel" cleared, my country has newly built a large number of electric furnace steelmaking equipment, but the electric furnace equipment of 100 tons and above is mainly imported. According to incomplete statistics, the accumulated There are 51 imported electric furnaces with nominal capacity of this level that have been built, are under construction or are to be built, including 23 made by Danieli, 14 made by Tenova, 12 made by Prime, 2 made by SMS, etc. It is difficult for enterprises to compete with foreign manufacturers in this level of electric furnace equipment. Domestic Changchun Electric Furnace, Wuxi Dongxiong and other electric furnace equipment enterprises mainly focus on horizontal feeding electric furnaces below 100 tons, and especially 70-80 tons horizontal continuous feeding electric furnaces. The localization of this part of electric furnaces accounts for more than 95% .
Through investigation, it is found that the average smelting period of 70-80 tons of all-scrap horizontal continuous feeding electric furnace is about 32 minutes, the average smelting power consumption is 335 kWh/ton steel, the electrode consumption is 0.75 kg/ton steel, and various technical and economic indicators can reach 100. Ton and above electric furnace level, carbon emission intensity is only about 0.4 tons/ton of steel. If this level of electric furnace equipment completes the ultra-low emission transformation as required, it can fully meet the requirements of the national ultra-low emission implementation standard. The "Proposal" proposes to accelerate the promotion of high-end upgrading of technical equipment, advanced electric furnaces, special smelting, high-end testing and other high-end equipment, and strengthen the upstream and downstream collaborative research of "industry-university-research-application". From the above survey data, it can be seen that the 70-80 ton all-scrap horizontal continuous feeding electric furnace meets the requirements of "advanced electric furnace". Innovation and development capabilities of steel enterprises.
According to incomplete statistics, there are 418 electric furnaces in my country (including existing ones, newly built ones and those to be built), 181 electric furnaces with a nominal capacity of 50 tons or less, and 116 electric furnaces with a capacity of 51 tons to 99 tons (70 tons~ There are 87 for 99 tons), and there are 121 electric furnaces for 100 tons and above. According to the requirements of the "Catalogue", even if some new 50-100-ton electric furnace equipment in the name of alloy steel is removed, the proportion of restricted electric furnace equipment in my country is still very high. It is worth considering and discussing whether to further expand the capacity of electric furnaces, "one size fits all" and "a swarm of bees" to force "to go from small to large", or to reduce the restrictive nominal capacity standard for all scrap steel smelting electric furnace steelmaking equipment in a targeted manner. It is suggested to modify the expression in the "Catalogue" of "electric arc furnace with a nominal capacity of 30 tons or more and 100 tons (alloy steel 50 tons) or less" to "a arc furnace with a nominal capacity of 30 tons or more and 100 tons (alloy steel 50 tons, 70 tons for all scrap steel) Furnace", in order to make better use of the advantages of the existing 70-99 ton electric furnace equipment, and reduce the "tight hoop" on the heads of enterprises that own such electric furnace equipment.
Transformation and upgrading of my country's electric furnace steel enterprises from the perspective of product structure
Among the steel products produced by my country's electric furnace steelmaking enterprises, the output of ordinary carbon steel accounts for more than 80%, while construction steel accounts for more than 60%. As the demand for construction steel such as rebar weakens, electric furnace steelmaking enterprises that produce large-scale and wide-ranging steel products urgently need to adjust their product structure and complete their transformation and upgrading.
As my country's high-quality economic development continues to deepen, the individual demand for steel products is getting higher and higher, and "order-based" production is increasing. Generally speaking, for electric furnace steelmaking enterprises with a capacity of 100 tons and above, their production capacity indicators are high, and the supporting construction of steel rolling production lines requires a large amount of capital investment, which is restricted by factors such as site area and a large amount of new fixed asset investment. Difficult to completely complete product structure adjustment.
For alloy steel and special steel with many production batches, small batches and high added value, it is necessary to use "small electric furnace" for production first, which can not only effectively reduce production costs, but also reduce equipment maintenance costs. This is also in line with the initiatives proposed in the "Plan" to create advanced steel industry clusters. Electric furnace steelmaking enterprises should give priority to developing in the direction of innovative small and medium-sized enterprises, specialized and special new small and medium-sized enterprises, specialized, specialized and new "little giant" enterprises, and individual champion enterprises in manufacturing. For example, a national-level specialized special new "little giant" enterprise in Anhui adopts a 35-ton electric furnace to support multiple refining furnaces, induction furnaces and self-consumption furnaces, etc., and has the production capacity of 150,000 tons of high-grade special alloy materials per year. , the products are widely used in aviation, aerospace, shipbuilding, petrochemical, nuclear power and other fields, and can organize the research and development and production of new materials according to the needs of customers for new materials; a listed company in Jiangsu uses a 60-ton electric furnace to support multiple refining Furnaces, induction furnaces and self-consumption furnaces, etc., produce alloy materials and alloy products. The products are widely used in high-end equipment manufacturing industries such as new energy wind power, rail transit, aerospace, military equipment, nuclear power, and semiconductor chip equipment.
The all-scrap electric furnace of about 70 tons can well meet the characteristics of "many batches, many varieties, and small contract quantity". Reduce the remaining blanks caused by the contract production of iron and steel enterprises. The procurement volume of raw and auxiliary materials and product sales of about 70 tons of all-scrap electric furnaces are less than those of 100 tons of electric furnaces and above, and the total level of pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions in the region is lower.
In addition, for a single 70-ton electric furnace to be matched with a 600,000-ton rolling mill production line, it is a reasonable, economical and efficient furnace-machine matching method for urban steel mills with a radius of 200 kilometers for scrap steel supply and product sales. With regard to the development direction of electric furnace products with different nominal capacities, it is recommended to follow the following three classification methods: first, the electric furnace capacity is 30 tons to 50 tons, which is suitable for the production of special steel and alloy steel in small batches; second, the electric furnace capacity is 150 tons and above , suitable for the production of plates and strips, high value-added automotive steel and stainless steel, etc.; third, the capacity of the electric furnace ranges from 50 tons to 150 tons, and mainly 70 tons to 100 tons, suitable for small steel mills around the city for production Steel for construction and disposal of household waste.
Some Suggestions on the Development of Electric Furnace Short Process Steelmaking in my country
First, encourage measures to local conditions, actively and steadily promote the development of electric furnace steel. It is not appropriate to rapidly increase the number of electric furnace steelmaking equipment and the proportion of electric furnace steel output, and it is not encouraged to increase the proportion of electric furnace short-process production capacity and output in terms of process structure in all regions of the country. Compared with specific quantitative indicators requirements. The first condition for the development of electric furnace steelmaking is that the location of the enterprise has sufficient ferrite resources such as scrap steel, followed by relatively cheap water and electricity as support, and the third is that environmental protection, energy and future carbon emissions are relatively tight and scarce. If a certain area does not have the advantages of resources and energy, and the environmental bearing capacity and purification capacity are relatively strong, but "a swarm" blindly installs electric furnace steelmaking equipment, the final result may be that there are a number of "electric converters" in some areas. Some electric furnace steelmaking enterprises that cannot compete with long-process enterprises have been forced to suspend production for a long time due to lack of market competitiveness.
Second, implement policies by category and do a good job in the production and management of existing electric furnaces in stock. Don’t be too greedy for foreign countries for electric furnace steelmaking equipment, plan a good furnace machine matching mechanism for electric furnace steelmaking equipment, it is recommended not to simply use the size of the furnace capacity as the only indicator to measure whether the equipment is advanced, and do not encourage all parts of the country to continue to use "one size fits all"" Policies such as going from small to big" restrict the development of competitive "small electric furnace" enterprises.
The "Proposal" puts forward in terms of strengthening factor guarantees that all localities should establish a long-term mechanism for steady growth of the steel industry, clean up discriminatory policies against the steel industry, and meet the high-quality development direction for electric furnace steelmaking with A-level environmental performance and advanced energy efficiency. Iron and steel projects are not included in the "two high and one capital" project management. Under the current macro situation of the iron and steel industry, enterprises should give priority to ensuring "survival" and avoid the high level of corporate debt brought about by the new electric furnace equipment, which will become the last straw that crushes the enterprise.
Third, accelerate the promotion of high-quality development of the electric furnace steel industry. It is suggested that electric furnace steelmaking enterprises should seek transformation and upgrading as soon as possible, complete the optimization and adjustment of product structure, and produce competitive high value-added products in "clean" workshops. Establish brand awareness, attach importance to external publicity and communication, and strive for "brand premium". Regardless of whether it is restricted or not, the electric furnace equipment can produce construction steel that meets the customer's quality requirements. If the "big electric furnace" cannot continuously obtain high-quality and pure ferrite resources such as steel scrap or direct reduced iron, then It is difficult to produce high value-added steel products. Electric furnace steelmaking enterprises that produce construction steel as their main product should seek to complete transformation and upgrading as soon as possible through professional mergers and acquisitions, international production capacity cooperation, etc. The development model and product types of electric furnace steelmaking enterprises that are "little giants", single champions and invisible champions, through multiple measures such as increasing R&D investment, strengthening technical cooperation or purchasing mature technologies, will completely realize product structure adjustment and strive for "innovation premium".
Post time: Sep-11-2023