Hebei has made great efforts to manage "embroidery skills", and "iron boss" has become an "excellent student" in environmental protection

In people's impression, iron and steel enterprises are "big consumers" of energy consumption and pollution emissions, but 1.4 kilometers north of Jingtanggang No. 4 Pier in Leting County, Tangshan City, Hebei Province, there is a "world's cleanest steel mill" - HBIS Tangsteel Company.

China's iron and steel looks at Hebei, and Hebei iron and steel looks at Tangshan. As the largest state-owned "giant" steel enterprise in Tangshan with an annual production capacity of 7.32 million tons of pig iron, 7.47 million tons of steel and 7.1 million tons of steel, how did HBIS Tangsteel Company be rated as the "world's cleanest steel mill"?

Aerial photography of the new area of HBIS Group Tangsteel Company. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee of Tangsteel

Walking into Tangsteel's smart energy and environmental protection control center, the main data of environmental protection and other aspects in the plant are displayed in real time on the huge electronic screen, and the staff is watching the numerical changes on the screen.

"At present, our environmental protection data has been collected in real time, and we will warn and take corresponding measures as soon as problems are found, so as to ensure that the indicators are always stable within the ultra-low emission standard. At the same time, our environmental protection automatic monitoring and monitoring equipment is also networked with the ecological environment department of Tangshan City, which also reduces the frequency of law enforcement departments to enter the enterprise for inspection, which is conducive to the normal production of the enterprise. Wu Haidong, minister of energy and environmental protection of Tangsteel, told reporters that in the steel industry, the ultra-low emission standards implemented by Hebei Province are the most stringent in China, and the standards implemented by Tangshan Iron and Steel are 20% lower than those in the province.

Tangsteel's intelligent brain center - production command center. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee of Tangsteel

So far, Tangsteel has installed more than 500 video monitoring and monitoring equipment in the production process, all of which are interconnected with the smart energy environmental protection control center, realizing full coverage of the main production links.

In the sintering workshop of Tangsteel, the reporter saw that the smooth and compacted sintering material slowly drove out from the sintering machine, and the spray device above the material surface kept spraying water mist, and the air in the plant was fresh without any smoke and dust.

"Ultra-low emission transformation is a necessary prerequisite for iron and steel enterprises to create A. Liu Limin, head of the steel industry group of the Hebei Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, introduced that ultra-low emission transformation is divided into organized governance, unorganized governance and monitoring and monitoring. ChuangA not only enables the enterprise to improve the ability and level of pollution control, but also promotes technological innovation, equipment renewal and management innovation.

In order to strengthen the source treatment, Tangsteel adopted circulating fluidized bed semi-dry desulfurization + medium and low temperature SCR denitrification in the flue gas treatment of the sintering machine head, which improved the pollutant treatment efficiency. After the sintering flue gas is treated, the emission concentration of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides is greatly reduced, and the value is far lower than the national standard.

Desulfurization and denitrification environmental protection facilities. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee of Tangsteel

In terms of organized emission transformation, Tangsteel mainly implemented the desulfurization transformation of blast furnace gas users, including the desulfurization and denitrification of flue gas of blast furnace hot blast furnace and steel rolling heating furnace, and carried out the standardized transformation of discharge ports.

In terms of fugitive emission transformation, they added dry fog dust suppression, scrapers, industrial vacuum cleaners and other facilities in the fully enclosed mechanized material yard and belt transportation corridor to effectively inhibit the spread of dust, and built vehicle cleaning devices at the entrances and exits of each material yard to flush the vehicles entering and leaving the factory area and the silo area.

The reporter walked in the factory area of Tangshan Iron and Steel and found that the roads here are clean and tidy, and the transmission of iron ore, coal and other raw materials is through a fully enclosed corridor, and then transported to the unmanned material yard, where workers can remotely control, track materials, and intelligently mix ingredients.

Wu Haidong told reporters that the company has also built three large-scale charging stations, equipped with 841 electric heavy trucks, to achieve clean transportation.

Tangsteel adopts a clean mode of transportation. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee of Tangsteel

On January 6, 2022, the Hebei Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment officially issued a document that Tangsteel was approved as an A-level enterprise with environmental protection performance, which is not only included in the white list of ecological and environmental supervision, but also can implement independent emission reduction during heavy pollution weather, without stopping production and limiting production.

In Wu Haidong's view, environmental protection is not only an improvement of hardware facilities, but also a change of thought. Since being rated as an A-level enterprise in environmental performance, Tangsteel has continuously innovated the path of green transformation, promoted the high-end variety structure, and opened up a new track for high-quality development.

In July this year, the first volume of automotive steel produced by direct reduced iron (DRI) in China has been provided to the BMW Group after Tangsteel rolled off the production line and passed the inspection, and at present, it has officially passed the material certification. Compared with the traditional long-process blast furnace ironmaking "carbon metallurgy" production process, the carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and dust particles emitted by the direct reduced iron (DRI) production process are reduced by more than 70%, 30%, 70% and 80% respectively, which is an important raw material for replacing high-quality scrap steel.

"From the perspective of improving the ecological environment, creating A is a practical need to promote the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. Bai Yu, head of the comprehensive coordination group of the Hebei Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, said that the annual emissions of particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from iron and steel enterprises in the province accounted for 31.6%, 43.5% and 40.1% of the total industrial emissions, respectively. After the comprehensive creation of A, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and other pollutants will be reduced by more than 30%, carbon emission intensity will be reduced by more than 10%, and the emission reduction of industrial pollutants will be contributed by more than 12%, which will better promote the transformation of air pollution control from treating the symptoms to treating the root cause.

Iron and steel is a pillar industry in Hebei, with production capacity accounting for about 1/5 of the country, and has made important contributions to the economic and social development of the province. As of December 25, Hebei has added 14 A-level iron and steel enterprises this year, bringing the total number to 35, ranking first in the country, which has strongly promoted the green transformation and high-quality development of the steel industry.

The Economic Work Conference of the Provincial Party Committee held on December 19 proposed that it is necessary to resolutely fight the battle of blue sky, clear water and pure land, do a good job in the environmental protection performance of key industries, and persistently reduce carbon emissions and pollution. On December 22, Hebei Province held a working meeting to further promote the environmental protection performance of key industries, and made arrangements for the next step in the implementation of environmental protection performance in key industries.