Under the "dual carbon" goal, as the basic support for the new energy industry, stainless steel, nickel, and special alloy new materials are ushering in a new period of strategic opportunities.
Recently, the "2023 Global Energy Stainless Steel, Nickel, and Special Alloy New Material Technology Innovation Forum", sponsored by the People's Government of Dianan Town, Xinghua City, Jiangsu Province, and jointly organized by the International Nickel Association and the Zhongguancun Stainless Steel and Special Alloy New Material Industry Technology Innovation Alliance, was held in Xinghua City, Jiangsu Province.
At the meeting, Du Wansheng, Senior Chief Expert of China Steel Research Technology Group Co., Ltd. and Chairman of the Zhongguancun Stainless and Special Alloy New Material Industry Technology Innovation Alliance, stated that with the continuous intensification of global climate change, policy makers from various countries are also vigorously promoting sustainable development in the energy field. Stainless steel, nickel, and special alloy new materials are currently one of the most advanced metal materials, with multiple advantages in the fields of energy and environment, and are widely used; Special alloy materials play a very important role in the use of harsh and harsh conditions such as high temperature, high pressure, and strong corrosion.
Stainless steel is greener and low-carbon from a full lifecycle perspective
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA)'s plan for carbon reduction and sustainable development from 2020 to 2070, clean energy includes renewable energy sources such as wind power, hydropower, solar energy, photovoltaic, geothermal, biomass, hydrogen, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies, which are the main paths to achieve energy transformation and can effectively reduce carbon emissions.
Song Quanming, the chief representative of the International Nickel Association in China, pointed out that stainless steel and special alloys containing nickel not only provide strong material application technology support for energy transformation technology, but also play a key role in many clean energy technologies.
With the continuous promotion of the 'dual carbon' action, industries such as green buildings, energy and environmental protection equipment will develop rapidly, and the demand for stainless steel enclosure systems and stainless steel equipment components will further expand. "Guan Zhijie, Deputy Chief Engineer of the Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute and Director of the Steel Rolling Department (Life Cycle Assessment Center and Market Research Center), told reporters that under the urgent demand of the country to vigorously develop a low-carbon economy, Stainless steel, due to its low carbon emissions throughout its entire lifecycle, will partially replace other materials in traditional fields.
For example, Guan Zhijie takes the application of different materials in the life cycle carbon emissions of a certain building structure as an example. Aluminum alloy has 8.5t CO2 eq/t, carbon steel has 4.3t CO2 eq/t, and stainless steel has the least, with 3.3t CO2 eq/t.
It is understood that Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an internationally recognized environmental management and analysis tool that quantifies the resource consumption and environmental emissions of a product or system throughout its entire lifecycle, and evaluates the impact of these consumption and emissions on resources, ecological environment, and human health. It is often used as the basic theory of product environmental footprint (such as carbon footprint, water footprint), green products, ecological design and other product environmental analysis.
Stainless steel, due to its longevity, corrosion resistance, and other characteristics, is greener and low-carbon compared to ordinary carbon steel from a full life cycle perspective. "Guan Zhijie believes that LCA is an important way and method to comply with national green and low-carbon development, respond to downstream industry demands, and break through international green trade barriers. LCA can quantitatively characterize the green and low-carbon properties of stainless steel, and carry out product ecological design based on LCA combined with downstream application scenarios, helping stainless steel replace some common steel applications and exploring the stainless steel market.
There is a shortage of waste stainless steel resources, and there is a lot of room for improvement in utilization
According to the statistics of the European Iron and Steel Association, for every 1 ton of ordinary carbon waste steel recycled, it can reduce 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and the contribution of waste stainless steel recycling to reducing carbon dioxide emissions is greater. For every 1 ton of waste stainless steel recycled, it can reduce about 5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
The proportion of recycled components in stainless steel refers to the proportion of scrap steel used in the production of new stainless steel. The proportion of recycled components in stainless steel in developed countries or regions such as Europe and America, as well as other Asian countries and regions (excluding China), is much higher than the global average of 44%, while the proportion of recycled components in Chinese stainless steel is only 23%. There is great room for improvement in the utilization of waste stainless steel, "pointed out Guan Zhijie.
According to the research conducted by the Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute, the total amount of waste stainless steel resources in China ranges from 6 million tons to 7 million tons. At present, waste stainless steel is mainly supplied in a regional manner, with 80% of its resources distributed in the southern region of the Yangtze River.
Guan Zhijie suggested that stainless steel enterprises make full use of domestic waste stainless steel resources, carry out research on the layout of scrap processing bases, actively arrange scrap processing bases that meet the requirements of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for scrap access through cooperation, new construction and other ways, and improve the concentration ratio of scrap processing industry. Meanwhile, explore the feasibility of overseas layout of scrap steel processing bases.
The "dual carbon" goal places higher performance requirements on alloy materials such as stainless steel
With the rapid development of the global energy industry, especially in the field of new energy, higher performance requirements have been put forward for new materials such as stainless steel, nickel, and special alloys. It is necessary to conduct long-term and in-depth research and exploration in material preparation, processing, and performance testing to meet the needs of energy application development.
At present, the steel industry is facing constraints such as resources, emission reduction, and environmental protection. Recently, the demand for hard and high-end steel is intertwined, and it is expected that hard demand will significantly decrease in the future. A batch of steel production capacity may be forced to disappear from the market. We should recognize that occupying the global market with high-end metallurgical materials is the path to becoming a strong metallurgical country. In recent years, China's steel industry has continuously strengthened technological innovation and vigorously promoted the development of high-end steel materials and metallurgical technology, However, the road to becoming a strong country in special metallurgy still has a long way to go, and unremitting efforts are still needed Liu Zhengdong, academician of the CAE Member and chief expert of the General Institute of Iron and Steel Research, believes that.
According to incomplete statistics, as of mid March 2023, the total production capacity of stainless steel in China is about 57 million tons, mainly distributed in East China and Central South China, accounting for 48% and 29% respectively. Fujian is the province with the largest production capacity of stainless steel, reaching around 16 million tons. During the 14th Five Year Plan period, domestic stainless steel production capacity showed a strong growth trend, with an expected growth space of 10 million to 20 million tons, mainly due to carbon steel replacement, concentrated in major stainless steel production provinces such as Fujian, Jiangsu, and Shandong.
"The top four enterprises in China's stainless steel industry with the output of more than 2 million tons accounted for 64.7%, but small enterprises with the output of less than 1 million tons were still on the high side." Guan Zhijie said that the production of a single factory, single process and single product has no competitive advantage, so it is necessary to integrate upstream and downstream, further improve the concentration ratio of the industry, professional division of the whole industry chain, and achieve efficient production.
