The world's largest steelmaker Baowu Group recently rolled out a roadmap to reduce carbon emissions per tonne of crude steel by 30% from 2020 to 2035, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, setting a tone for China's steel industry. The total carbon emissions of its four production bases will reach a peak level in 2023, while the company will achieve the technical ability to reduce carbon emissions by 2025. Baosteel has defined the basic paths of carbon emissions reduction as the transformation of the iron and steel production process, the adjustment and upgrading of its energy structure, acceleration of research and development of a new low-carbon emissions process, and implementation of technological innovation to reduce carbon emissions.Baowu said its EAF steel output accounted only 6.5% of its total crude steel output of 115 million tonnes 2020, which is why decarbonizing blast furnace and converter routes was so crucial to the company. Baowu has been working on hydrogen-rich blast furnace technology and pure hydrogen furnace technology, while developing technologies which could eventually boost scrap consumption to 50% in converters. The company has terminated plans to build the fourth and fifth blast furnaces at Zhanjiang steelworks in southern China’s Guangdong province. Instead, the company will build its first hydrogen furnace, with an EAF as downstream steelmaking process, at Zhanjiang, using natural gas, wind and solar power to generate green hydrogen. Meanwhile, Baowu is also planning to build an EAF steel mill together with its own solar plant in western China's Xinjiang.China is vowing to become carbon neutral by 2060, but it wants to hit peak carbon emissions much earlier, by 2030. To achieve these goals, plans have been laid out by several energy-intensive industries. China's steel industry accounts for around 15%-20% of national carbon emissions annually.
The world's largest steelmaker Baowu Group recently rolled out a roadmap to reduce carbon emissions per tonne of crude steel by 30% from 2020 to 2035, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, setting a tone for China's steel industry. The total carbon emissions of its four production bases will reach a peak level in 2023, while the company will achieve the technical ability to reduce carbon emissions by 2025. Baosteel has defined the basic paths of carbon emissions reduction as the transformation of the iron and steel production process, the adjustment and upgrading of its energy structure, acceleration of research and development of a new low-carbon emissions process, and implementation of technological innovation to reduce carbon emissions.Baowu said its EAF steel output accounted only 6.5% of its total crude steel output of 115 million tonnes 2020, which is why decarbonizing blast furnace and converter routes was so crucial to the company. Baowu has been working on hydrogen-rich blast furnace technology and pure hydrogen furnace technology, while developing technologies which could eventually boost scrap consumption to 50% in converters. The company has terminated plans to build the fourth and fifth blast furnaces at Zhanjiang steelworks in southern China’s Guangdong province. Instead, the company will build its first hydrogen furnace, with an EAF as downstream steelmaking process, at Zhanjiang, using natural gas, wind and solar power to generate green hydrogen. Meanwhile, Baowu is also planning to build an EAF steel mill together with its own solar plant in western China's Xinjiang.China is vowing to become carbon neutral by 2060, but it wants to hit peak carbon emissions much earlier, by 2030. To achieve these goals, plans have been laid out by several energy-intensive industries. China's steel industry accounts for around 15%-20% of national carbon emissions annually.
