Energy Saving And Emission Reduction in The Steel Industry Chain Is The Highlight Of Carbon Reduction

1. Energy conservation and emission reduction in the steel industry chain and supply chain are the highlight of "carbon reduction"

(1) Steel production has large carbon emissions and high unit energy consumption

The development stage of my country's economy, the characteristics of resource endowments, and the heavy-duty industrial structure and fossil energy-based energy structure have resulted in a large carbon emission base and rapid growth in my country. According to the Global Energy Interconnection Development Cooperation Organization's "China's Carbon Peak Research Report by 2030", in 2019, my country's total carbon emissions were about 10.5 billion tons, of which carbon emissions from energy activities were about 9.8 billion tons, accounting for 87%. In the carbon emission structure of energy activities, energy production and conversion and energy terminal consumption accounted for 47% and 53% of carbon emissions, respectively. The steel industry is the industry with the largest carbon emissions in the energy terminal consumption sector, accounting for carbon emissions in energy activities. The volume of 17% is much higher than the second and third places in the building materials (8%) and chemical industries (6%). In 2017, my country emitted 2 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of steel, much higher than the international advanced level. In 2018, the comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel in my country's key large and medium-sized iron and steel enterprises reached 555 kg of standard coal/ton, much higher than Germany's 251 kg of standard coal/ton and the United States of 276 kg of standard coal/ton. It can be seen that while the carbon emissions of steel production account for the largest proportion of energy consumption, the unit energy consumption is high, which is far behind the international advanced level.

(2) The volume of steel materials is large, the transportation links are many, and the carbon emissions are large

At present, my country has established a complete steel industry system in the global industrial chain, which has effectively supported the steel demand in downstream industries and the steady and rapid development of the national economy. Steel output has ranked first in the world for 25 consecutive years, and the resulting volume of logistics is huge. The main reasons for the large carbon emissions of logistics in my country's steel industry are firstly affected by resource endowments. In terms of raw material transportation, affected by the shortage of domestic natural mineral resources, especially high-grade mineral resources, steel raw materials rely on imports, resulting in long-distance transportation. The second is affected by the layout of the steel industry. Domestic raw materials are mainly embodied as "North-to-South transportation", which makes the transportation distance of raw materials involving iron ore, coking coal and other bulk materials longer. In the transportation of finished products, due to the large number of steel companies in my country, which are highly dispersed and widely distributed, and the location of production is far from the consumer market, the finished products need to be transported on a large scale and long distances. The southeast coastal area, especially the Pearl River Delta, has a large long-term demand, and the production capacity in the Bohai Rim area needs to flow to the south. The third is affected by production technology. my country's steel production is dominated by long-flow processes, and in-plant transfers are complicated. Generally speaking, in terms of output, the annual output of crude steel reaches 1 billion tons, and the corresponding material flow is about 10 billion tons, of which four are transportation outside the plant and six are transportation inside the plant. Fourth, it is affected by the mode of steel transportation. Transportation is my country's second largest energy consumption carbon emission field. Among them, roads consume the most energy, with energy consumption accounting for 83% of the total transport sector, followed by waterways, and railways are the cleanest and low-carbon mode of transportation, with energy consumption accounting for 3% of the total transport sector. my country's steel logistics uses a large number of road transportation methods, which inevitably produce a large amount of carbon emissions. Therefore, the steel industry is affected by many factors such as resource endowment, production layout, technology and transportation methods, and has high output, large logistics volume, and huge carbon emissions.

2. The steel industry must take effective measures to reduce carbon emissions

(1) Establish a carbon emission accounting system to guide the industry to reduce carbon emissions

Carbon trading takes carbon dioxide emission rights as a commodity to form carbon dioxide emission rights trading. In 2011, my country's carbon emission trading pilot work began. In 2013, the first carbon emission trading platform began trading in Shenzhen. Since then, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangdong, Hubei, Chongqing and other provinces and cities have launched carbon emission trading pilots. . On July 16 this year, the national carbon emissions trading market opened. Since the power generation industry is in the energy production and conversion field with the largest carbon emissions in the whole society, it was first included in the national carbon emissions trading market.

In order to achieve the "dual carbon" goal, the steel industry, as the industry with the largest carbon emission in the energy terminal consumption field, is a key area of carbon control management. Transformation to reduce carbon emissions. To this end, steel companies urgently need to carry out the construction of a carbon emission accounting standard system, a carbon control organization system, and personnel training, so as to establish a carbon emission accounting system for the steel industry and lay a foundation for the allocation of carbon allowances and the implementation of the carbon emission trading system.

(2) Implement the transformation of steel production technology to reduce carbon emissions in the production process

The "14th Five-Year Plan" proposes to promote the clean and efficient use of fossil energy such as coal, and to promote the green transformation of steel, petrochemical, and building materials industries. The Global Energy Internet Development Cooperation Organization’s "Research Report on China's Carbon Peak Before 2030" proposed that to achieve carbon peaks, it is necessary to "transform energy production methods with clean alternatives, and transform energy use methods with electric energy."

The technological transformation of green steel production includes electric furnace steelmaking and hydrogen energy steelmaking. Electric furnace steelmaking is the main way to promote the substitution of electric energy. With scrap steel as the main raw material and electricity as the main energy source, this method has low energy consumption, low emissions, and has obvious advantages in energy saving and emission reduction. At present, my country's electric furnace steelmaking accounts for only 9%, while the US and EU electric furnace steelmaking accounts for 62% and 40% respectively. Electric furnace steelmaking currently has mature development conditions, energy conservation and environmental protection. my country should adopt lower-carbon electric furnace steelmaking to reduce carbon emissions in steel production. Hydrogen energy steelmaking is conducive to replacing carbon monoxide with hydrogen as a reducing agent for steelmaking. There is no carbon dioxide emission during the reduction process, and the complete decarbonization of steel production can be achieved, which is the future development direction.

(3) The green transformation of steel logistics to reduce carbon emissions in the steel supply chain

Iron and steel logistics must achieve green development by changing transportation methods, developing multimodal transportation, and developing smart transportation. The first is to change the mode of transportation. On the one hand, it is to promote the "replacement of oil with electricity" and to encourage enterprises to use new energy vehicles for road transportation. At present, my country’s new energy automobile industry is leading the world in the development of new technologies, new technologies continue to emerge, the cost of lithium batteries continues to fall, and the application of hydrogen energy technology is gradually mature, and it has the advantage of developing new energy vehicles; on the other hand, it is shifting from road transportation to cleaner railway Transportation, reduce the proportion of road transportation, increase the proportion of railway transportation, speed up the construction of freight railway, solve the problem of "the last one kilometer", and attract enterprises to choose railway transportation. In the "14th Five-Year Plan", it is proposed to speed up the transportation of bulk cargo and medium and long-distance cargo to "return to rail" and "return to water". The second is to develop multimodal transport, strengthen infrastructure construction, multimodal transport station construction, logistics park construction, and so on. *The next step is to develop smart transportation. The first is to develop autonomous driving technology. According to the Ministry of Transport, autonomous vehicles can save fuel by 12% more than human driving* and are more energy-saving and environmentally friendly. At present, autonomous driving technology is developing rapidly in China, and the conditions for promotion and application are basic Yes; the second is to build an information platform to promote the development of shared transportation and improve logistics pendulum, realize real-time data exchange and information sharing through the information platform, and improve logistics efficiency.

3. The implementation of carbon emission reduction measures in the steel industry has a huge impact on costs

(1) The construction of the carbon emission accounting system for the steel industry requires additional investment. In accordance with the requirements of the "14th Five-Year Plan", market-based trading of carbon emission rights needs to be promoted. The investment in the construction of the carbon market is not only the investment in the construction of the carbon emission system, but also the investment in the construction of various supporting measures within the enterprise. The construction of a carbon emission accounting system for the steel industry requires a large amount of human, financial, and material inputs.

(2) The cost of carbon emissions from steel production is on the rise. Looking at the carbon emission allowance spot trading market in the past few years, the overall trend of most trading markets is that the total transaction volume is on the rise, and the average transaction price is on the rise. This indicates that the carbon emissions trading costs of companies that do not meet the standards will gradually increase. The transaction data published by the Guangzhou Carbon Emissions Exchange shows that the annual transaction volume of 2015 was 11.392 million yuan, which was far lower than the 2020 annual transaction volume of 834,541,500 yuan, and the average transaction price of 25.58 yuan/ton in 2020 was higher than 16.38 in 2015. Yuan / ton. Judging from the national carbon market transaction data released by the Shanghai Stock Exchange, in the first month of the market opening (July 16 to July 30), the monthly trading volume of the listing agreement was 5.052 million tons, and the highest transaction price was RMB 61.07/ton, month. The average transaction price was 51.86 yuan/ton, which was much higher than the transaction price during the pilot program. In addition, EU carbon emission allowance trading data shows that the average closing price for the whole year of 2018 was 17.45 euros/ton, and the average closing price for the whole year of 2019 was 24.91 euros/ton. It can be seen from the carbon emissions trading situation in my country and the European Union that the transaction price continues to increase, and the carbon emission costs of companies that do not meet the standards continue to increase.

(3) Steel logistics road transportation needs to pay a price for carbon emissions. The “dual points” policy of the automobile industry (ie, the “Parallel Management Measures for the Average Fuel Consumption of Passenger Car Companies and the Points of New Energy Vehicles”) stipulates that the average fuel consumption of passenger car companies is lower than the standard value and generates positive points, which are higher than the standard value. Produce negative points. The points trading market is a free trading market, and the price per point *highest point can reach 3000 yuan. In 2020, Changan Automobile will spend as much as 740 million yuan to resolve substandard points. The 100,000 points obtained by Weilai Automobile in 2019 will be sold in the second half of 2020 and bring a net income of 120 million yuan.

(4) Steel production needs to pay more for process transformation. The technological transformation of green steel production includes electric furnace steelmaking and hydrogen energy steelmaking. In the short term, technology research and development and process transformation require constant cost input. In the long run, it will reduce carbon emissions and reduce the cost of carbon emissions.

(5) The green development of iron and steel logistics requires a large amount of capital investment. Green logistics must be realized by changing transportation methods, developing multimodal transportation, and developing smart transportation. The transformation of related transportation methods, infrastructure construction, and logistics information construction all require a large amount of capital investment. In the short term, it will bring about a substantial increase in costs, but in the long term, it will bring about a reduction in carbon emissions of the steel supply chain logistics and an increase in logistics efficiency, thereby reducing the logistics costs of the steel industry. In order to achieve the "dual carbon" goal, the steel industry must actively explore ways to reduce costs and increase effects. Incorporate green development resources and environmental costs into the cost accounting system. Achieving green management, reducing energy intensity and reducing carbon emissions requires a lot of resources and environmental costs. Therefore, the cost of resources and environmental costs must be included in the overall cost of the steel supply chain, and the previous cost accounting methods of simply accounting for manufacturing and logistics costs should be discarded. Based on a comprehensive understanding of the overall cost of the steel industry chain and supply chain, with detailed cost data, the system analyzes the impact of various factors on its costs, and proposes countermeasures to achieve green development of the steel industry to reduce costs and increase efficiency. At the same time, it is necessary to actively study changing the industrial layout to increase industrial concentration, optimizing product structure to increase product added value, changing traditional management concepts, adopting short-distance multimodal transportation, informatization and digital methods to improve production and transportation efficiency and improve solid gas waste in steel production. Recycling and other measures to reduce the cost of the steel industry chain and supply chain, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the steel industry.