China did not approve steel mills with coal bunkers... Only electric furnaces allowed in the first half of the year

A survey revealed that China did not approve the establishment of any coal blast furnace steel plants in the first half of this year as part of its carbon reduction efforts.

On the 11th, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported, citing a report released that day by the Energy and Clean Air Research Centre (CREA), that Chinese authorities did not approve any coal blast furnace-based steel plant establishments in the first half of this year. The approved steel production capacity during this period was about 7.1 million tons annually, all of which were electric arc furnace-based steel plants.

[Image source=TASS Yonhap News]

According to CREA, this is unusual considering that 99% of newly installed steelmaking capacity over the past seven years used blast furnaces, and 70% of new steelmaking capacity was at the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) level. The report emphasized, "Electric arc furnaces, which use recycled waste and electricity, help reduce carbon emissions," adding, "This signifies a major policy shift in China's steel sector."

The report further stated, "Electric arc furnaces have much less environmental impact compared to blast furnaces, emitting fewer carbon emissions and air pollutants, and protecting local ecosystems," adding, "With China's steel demand reaching its peak, this creates an important opportunity to reduce future carbon emissions."

Electric arc furnace steelmaking is known to emit about one-third the carbon emissions compared to coal-based blast furnace steelmaking. Electric arc furnace steelmaking, which uses electricity as the main energy source, emits approximately 0.6 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of steel, whereas the BF-BOF route, which uses coal as the main energy source and reducing agent, emits about 2 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of steel.

China has set goals to peak carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. According to the CREA report, China aims to increase the share of electric arc furnace steelmaking by 2025 to reduce carbon emissions in the steel sector by 200 million tons, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of the EU steel sector.

Li Shui, head of industrial decarbonization at RMI China, a nonprofit energy transition research organization, diagnosed that China faces several challenges in its low-carbon transition process. In particular, as of 2022, China accounted for 54% of global steel production, far ahead of second-place India (7%), but 76% of local plants are coal blast furnace-based. The corresponding shares are 24% for the United States and 44% for the European Union (EU). Additionally, China's scrap steel recycling rate is only 9%, whereas the United States and the EU have rates of 71% and 42%, respectively.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.