No 'one size fits all' in iron and steel industry

The Opinions on Promoting the Implementation of Ultra-low Emissions in Iron and Steel Industry, issued jointly by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and other five ministries, represents the most stringent emission targets and requirements for the protection of the ecological environment in the global iron and steel industry, and requires cooperation and joint tackling of key issues within and outside the industry.

Implements differentiated management of heavy polluted weather in iron and steel industry. According to the performance of process equipment, control measures and organized emission limits, enterprises are classified into A, B and C levels. Enterprises that will achieve ultra-low emissions are classified as A-level, A-level enterprises are limited or limited, and C-level enterprises are limited.

A few days ago, the "2019 (10th) China Iron and Steel Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Forum" sponsored by the Institute of Planning and Research of Metallurgical Industry was held in Beijing. The theme of this forum is "New Starting Point of Green Development of China's Iron and Steel - Ultra-low Emissions Leading Change", which explores the path of industry environmental protection promotion and low carbon transformation under the new situation.

"Ultra-low emission is a new starting point for the green development of iron and steel industry. The upgrading and transformation of ultra-low emission will bring about a green development revolution in investment scale, R&D innovation and the whole process of steel manufacturing industry chain. This inevitably requires and promotes us to further innovate technology and improve management level, and will also lead the revolutionary change of iron and steel manufacturing industry. He Wenbo, Secretary of the Party Committee of China Iron and Steel Industry Association, said that the social incentive mechanism must be directed to those enterprises with advanced environmental protection level. The iron and steel industry is the main battlefield of the Blue Sky Defense War. In April this year, the Ministry of Ecological Environment and other five ministries jointly issued "Opinions on Promoting the Implementation of Ultra-Low Emissions in Iron and Steel Industry" (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions"), which not only put forward clear requirements for the Ultra-Low Emissions Index after the end treatment, but also strengthened the pollution control requirements of the whole process, the whole system and the whole industrial chain.

"The relevant requirements in the opinions represent the most stringent environmental protection emission targets and requirements of the global steel industry today." He Wenbo also said that there are still many technical problems in the concrete implementation. For example, whether the flue gas desulfurization, denitrification and dust removal technologies can reach the ultra-low emission standards in a long time still needs time to verify; the blast furnace gas fine desulfurization and other technologies still need innovative breakthroughs, which require joint cooperation and joint efforts within and outside the industry. According to some enterprises, it is difficult and risky to innovate and apply new technologies in governance, and the investment in transformation is huge and the operation cost is high. "In the long run, the transformation of ultra-low emissions will be conducive to promoting the green development of the iron and steel industry, but also to winning the battle against the blue sky. Therefore, the iron and steel industry must be responsible and responsible. He Wenbo said that the iron and Steel Association will timely reflect the new situation, new problems and new demands of enterprises. At the same time, he called on governments at all levels to give more incentives to enterprises implementing ultra-low emission transformation and implement more effective "differential control" measures.

He Wenbo believes that in order to implement ultra-low emission in iron and steel industry, we must clearly define the main body of responsibility, do a good job of responsibility decomposition, implementation and evaluation, ensure capital investment, strictly control the quality of the project, and make plans in accordance with the actual situation of the enterprise to implement ultra-low emission transformation with high quality. Statistics show that China's iron and steel production increased by 37.44 million tons in the first five months of this year. From the structural point of view, the growth rate of iron and steel production in the first five months was 10.2%, the growth rate of member enterprises of China Steel Association, which accounted for nearly 80% of the total iron and steel production, was 6.2%, and that of non-member enterprises was 23%, and their production increment accounted for 54% of the total increment.

He Wenbo said that under certain total demand for iron and steel, the policy should be inclined to enterprises with ultra-low emissions, while limiting the production capacity with high emissions, which is the correct way to reduce the environmental impact.

According to some iron and steel enterprises which invest heavily in environmental protection, in order to achieve ultra-low emission, the cost of environmental protection operation has reached the level of 260 yuan to 270 yuan per ton. "We believe that engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs who continue to invest in the realization of green production and ultra-low emissions and continue to create, actively develop and use new technologies and new equipment for environmental protection should be widely respected by the society, and their efforts should be rewarded as they deserve." He Wenbo said. Liu Bingjiang, Director of the Department of Atmospheric Environment of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, responded: "We will never allow enterprises with low environmental protection level and low investment to compete in the same environment as those with high environmental protection level and large investment." He pointed out that the steel industry has great potential for ultra-low emission transformation, and supervision should not let enterprises with excellent environmental performance "worry", but make them more excellent, and must establish environmental benchmarking enterprises.

Liu Bingjiang said that heavy pollution weather differential management was implemented in iron and steel industry. According to the performance of process equipment, control measures and organized emission limits, enterprises were classified into A, B and C levels. Enterprises that will achieve ultra-low emissions are classified as A-level, A-level enterprises are limited or limited, and C-level enterprises are limited. We should help the good and weed out the bad, reward the good and punish the bad, and form a fair competitive environment in which the good coins drive out the bad ones. Li Xinchuang, president of the Institute of Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research, said that ecological environment protection should be further exerted to achieve high-level and intelligent environmental protection in high-quality development and promote high-quality green development of the industry.