On November 18, CERI attended the founding meeting of the Global Low-carbon Metallurgical Innovation Alliance. The alliance, initiated by China Baowu Steel Group and co-sponsored by the global steel industry and ecosystem partners, is comprised of 62 enterprises, colleges and universities and scientific research institutions from 15 countries. Its foreign member includes internationally renowned companies such as ArcelorMittal, ThyssenKrupp, Tata, BHP, Rio Tinto, Vale, FMG, as well as scientific research institutes and engineering companies, among them are RWTH Aachen University, Ukrainian Metallurgical Research Institute, Danieli and Pratt. Its domestic member includes 20 steel enterprises such as Ansteel, HBIS, Shougang Group and Shagang Group, 9 R&D and design units such as CISRI, MPI, CERI and Jiangsu Industrial technology Research Institute, 11 universities such as Shanghai Jiaotong University, University of Science and Technology Beijing and Northeastern University, and other important partners from upstream and downstream industries of iron and steel.
The alliance positions itself as a technology exchange platform in the field of low-carbon metallurgical innovation, aims to (backed by the collective research and development resources from global steel industry and upstream and downstream enterprises, universities and research institutions) carry out fundamental and forward-looking low-carbon metallurgical technology development, promote technological collaboration, exchanges and transformation. In addition, its purpose is to promote engineering and industrialization of low-carbon technologies, form a low-carbon value innovation chain of steel to facilitate the low-carbon transformation of the steel industry.
As the vanguard of the national team of metallurgical construction, CERI is the first engineering technology company in China to carry out low-carbon technology research and development, technical consultation and engineering construction implementation in the steel industry. After years of accumulation, CERI has formed a short-term technology integration focusing on long-process energy saving and carbon reduction, including optimization and transformation of manufacturing process, optimization of energy structure, deep R&D and application of energy saving and carbon reduction technology, system management energy saving and carbon reduction, and coupling development among industries. In addition, CERI has formed a medium-and long-term technology leader with short process (DRI+ scrap steel/electric arc furnace short process of scrap steel) as the research and development direction, providing low-carbon development path and landing carbon reduction technology for steel enterprises in the whole process.
As early as 2000, under the organization of relevant national ministries and commissions, CERI has participated in international cooperation projects on climate change between China and the Netherlands, China and Italy, carried out capacity building of the industry to respond to climate change, organized low-carbon policy research, standard and specification formulation, conducted low-carbon technical exchanges, and participated in Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). In terms of the low-carbon metallurgy research in the industry, CERI focused on how to reduce the carbon consumed in the ironmaking process, and successively completed the tests of smelting reduction ironmaking and ultra-high oxygen-enriched gasification furnace before 2012; it studied new coal-to-gas technology, new oxy-coal ironmaking technology, gas-based shaft furnace reduction technology and main equipment, developed electric furnace technology and equipment based on DRI, and built electric furnace steelmaking project based on fully DRI smelting as an overseas general contractor during 2013-2018; it completed the research of gas refining technology based on dry method, and successfully completed the first refining plant in the world, and mastered the process technology of carbon dioxide removal and deep processing during 2019-2020; and together with HBIS, Tenova and Tang Steel International Engineering Technology Corporation (TSIC), it completed the development of hydrogen energy utilization technology and engineering based on hydrogen-rich gas, made full use of distributed renewable energy sources such as solar energy and wind energy, and jointly built the world's first hydrogen metallurgy demonstration project by applying hydrogen production by industrial gas and electrolyzed water in 2021.
CERI will, together with other members of the alliance, follow the principles of openness, vision sharing and intellectual property protection, actively respond to climate change, and work together for the future of the steel industry and for the benefit of mankind.
