CISA: More Chinese steelmakers adopt ultra-low emission processes

By the end of 2025, the final year of China's 14th Five Year Plan, steelmakers hosting more than 80% of the country's upstream crude steel capacity had completed ultra-low emissions upgrading, marking a major step forward in the 'green' development of its steel industry, according to the latest release of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).

The ultra-low emission upgrade program was initiated via an official document published in 2019 - Opinions on Promoting the Implementation of Ultra-low Emissions in Iron and Steel Industry which later delivered significant results under the guidance of the Three-Year Action Plan for Energy Efficiency Benchmarking in the Steel Industry, issued by the central government and spanning 2022-2025, Mysteel Global learned.

The program standards for steel mills mandate caps on pollutant emissions during the whole steelmaking process, including requirements for raw materials stocking and for modes of transportation, as Mysteel Global reported.

In line with the three-year action plan, by the end of last year a total of 143 steel producers nationwide had successfully reduced their energy consumption by 2.5% in blast furnace (BF) ironmaking and 12.2% in converter steelmaking from 2023 levels, according to CISA chairman, Zhao Minge.

Over the period, these companies also cumulatively saved 13.2 million tonnes of standard coal and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 34 million tonnes, Zhao noted.

Meanwhile, China's steel industry has also made steady progress in low-carbon technologies, Zhao stressed. In recent years, projects such as Baowu Group's 2,500-cu m hydrogen-enriched carbonic oxide recycling oxygenate furnace and Baosteel Zhanjiang's zero-carbon sheet plant have been successively launched commercially, he said.

As China enters the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the country's steel industry will further promote energy conservation and carbon reduction by accelerating the deployment of cutting-edge technologies and integrating the management of energy consumption and emission data, according to CISA.

Written by Anthea Shi, shihui@mysteel.com

Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com