China Iron and Steel’s "13th Five-Year" scientific and technological development achievements and "14th Five-Year" innovation direction

"During the '13th Five-Year Plan' period, my country's iron and steel industry relied on scientific and technological innovation to lead the high-quality development of the industry. Major scientific and technological achievements continued to emerge, and scientific and technological strength and innovation capabilities were significantly enhanced. Scientific and technological innovation has added vitality to promoting the large and strong development of China's iron and steel industry. This has laid a solid foundation for building a strong manufacturing country.” Jiang Shangqing, director of the Science and Technology and Environmental Protection Department of the China Iron and Steel Association, said in an exclusive interview with reporters a few days ago.

Looking back at the "13th Five-Year Plan"

The steel industry provides key material support for Chinese manufacturing

On May 12 last year, when General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Shanxi, he walked into Taigang Stainless Steel Precision Strip Co., Ltd. and praised the “hand-tear steel” (wide precision strip steel foil) independently developed and produced by Taigang. Aroused great repercussions within. "Hand-tear steel" is difficult to process and requires high product quality. Prior to this, the core manufacturing technology has been in the hands of Germany, Japan and other countries. In fact, the "hand torn steel" is just a microcosm of the technological innovation of my country's steel industry during the 13th Five-Year Plan.

Jiang Shangqing told reporters that in order to support the "China Business Card" to go global, the Iron and Steel People followed the demand closely and broke through one after another in research and development of new steel materials, and solved one after another "stuck neck" product production problems. In addition to "hand-tear steel", a batch of high-end steel products during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period were successfully used in UHV substations, "Hualong No. 1" nuclear power unit, Xuelong No. 2 and other "big power equipment" and the Sino-Russian East Route natural gas pipeline , Yamal Liquefied Natural Gas Project, Wudongde and Baihetan Hydropower Station and other major construction projects, as well as national defense and military industry. Domestically-made large aircraft landing gear steel, high-speed rail wheel set steel, and high-speed rail bogie steel have also possessed localized substitution capabilities, laying a solid foundation for the full localization of key components for large aircraft and high-speed rail manufacturing. "Without breakthroughs in key materials, there would be no strong manufacturing in China. China Steel has the ability to continue to provide high-quality material support for the'strong bones' of China's manufacturing industry." She emphasized.

Jiang Shangqing said that in recent years, the steel industry has broken through the constraints of a number of key products, driving and supporting the development and upgrading of the downstream steel industry, laying the foundation for the realization of the manufacturing industry to climb to the high-end of the industrial chain. Through the continuous efforts of several generations of iron and steel workers, the technological level of China's iron and steel industry has been improved. With the improvement of industrial technology and equipment and the continuous improvement of the quality system, the product structure of the steel industry has been optimized, and the quality of steel products has been greatly improved. This has met the changes in the consumption structure brought about by the evolution of the industrial structure of the national economy, and has promoted the development of China’s manufacturing industry into the industrial chain. High-end climbs. First, the proportion of production and application of high-performance steel in my country has increased significantly, driving and supporting the development and upgrading of the downstream steel industry. The second is that the iron and steel industry keeps up with market demands and has continuously made breakthroughs in the research and development of new materials and solving the production problems of "stuck neck" products. Some products have achieved a leap from following to leading. At present, steel products produced in my country, such as steel for automobiles, electrical steel for large transformers, steel for high-performance long-distance pipelines, high-speed steel rails, and steel for construction bridges, have steadily entered the first international echelon.

Jiang Shangqing, for example, said that the R&D and application of China’s Baowu QP1500 and other third-generation high-strength automotive steels provides 10% to 20% weight reduction space for automotive lightweighting, and also enables my country’s high-strength automotive steel technology to reach the world’s leading level. , The variety and specifications of automobile steel have met the needs of European, American, Japanese, Korean and independent automobile brands. The development and application of high-performance automobile steel has provided support for reducing fuel consumption and reducing emissions. For another example, the high-steel-grade X80 pipeline steel independently developed and produced by my country’s iron and steel enterprises has not only supported the construction of my country’s West-East Gas Pipeline and the Sino-Russian East Route, but has also successfully boosted my country’s long-distance oil and gas pipeline construction and transportation technology to follow suit. Leap to the leader. The X80 steel plates for steel pipes with a diameter of 1422 mm and a wall thickness of 21.4 mm required for the Eastern Route of China and Russia have all been made in China.

The successful development and mass production of these high-end steel materials are inseparable from the continuous innovation of process technology and equipment in the steel industry. Jiang Shangqing told reporters that during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the steel industry has not only further improved my country's steel manufacturing level through the development and application of a number of key technologies, but also supported the transformation and upgrading of industrial development. At present, my country's iron and steel industry has basically realized the localization of main technical equipment for main processes such as coking, agglomeration, ironmaking, steelmaking, continuous casting, and steel rolling. The localization rate of large metallurgical equipment has reached more than 95% (by weight), ton Steel investment has dropped significantly. With the completion and commissioning of many large steel bases in Shandong Rizhao and Baowu Zhanjiang, my country has formed the world's largest and most modern steel production system. my country's iron and steel technology and equipment have not only been basically independent and controllable, but with the "One Belt One Road" project going abroad, the achievements of China's iron and steel scientific and technological progress have been shared with the world.

"Harmony and friendship with nature and society is a necessary condition for the sustainable development of the iron and steel industry. Low-carbon and green development is the key to the transformation and upgrading of the iron and steel industry. To this end, the iron and steel industry takes the initiative to empower green development with technological innovation and focus on development. A number of new energy-saving and environmentally-friendly technologies and new facilities have been applied to vigorously promote ultra-low emission transformation and have achieved remarkable results.” Jiang Shangqing introduced that by the end of 2020, key statistics will be made on the average comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel, sulfur dioxide emissions per ton of steel, and ton of steel. The amount of smoke and dust emissions has dropped significantly. Some iron and steel enterprises have reached the world's advanced level in terms of the application of pollutant treatment facilities and unit emission intensity, and a number of green garden-style factories and clean production and environment-friendly factories have emerged.

Intelligent manufacturing contributes to the high-quality development of the steel industry. Intelligent manufacturing is an important engine to promote the quality, efficiency, and power changes in traditional manufacturing, and to achieve high-quality development. It integrates intelligence into the steel manufacturing and operation decision-making process to achieve "precision, high efficiency, high quality, low consumption, safety, "Environmental protection", comprehensively improve the level of development, and achieve high-quality development of the steel industry has become a consensus. At present, the steel industry is actively exploring transformation and upgrading plans to accelerate the deployment of intelligent steel manufacturing. In terms of smart workshops, smart mines, and mass customization, the steel industry has deployed a number of smart manufacturing pilot demonstrations and new model projects, effectively improving production efficiency, product quality, and corporate management. Iron and steel companies have focused on the research of centralized control technology, intelligent equipment technology, big data technology, artificial intelligence technology, mobile Internet of things technology, industrial network security technology, virtual manufacturing technology and other technologies, and explored the research and development, energy management and control, quality control, operation Management and other aspects of the application. Jiang Shangqing told reporters that Baowu, Shagang, Nangang and other companies have established "black lamp factories" and smart workshops, which have realized 24-hour operation without the need for many people on duty. Baowu Shaogang established a steel integrated intelligent management and control platform, 50 work areas were reduced to 18, 42 decentralized central control rooms were optimized into a centralized control center for unified control, 436 operators were evacuated from the 3D area, and the cost of molten iron was reduced by 10 yuan to 50 yuan Yuan per ton of iron to achieve efficient and safe coordination of production; Baosteel Co., Ltd. has formulated an intelligent manufacturing implementation path with the goal of "four unifications", that is, on-site control is centralized, robots are used for operation positions, operation and maintenance monitoring is remote, and service links are uniform. Going online has formed three levels of smart factory, smart operation, and collaborative ecology in terms of overall architecture. Its Baoshan base factory has been selected as a global "lighthouse factory" list released by the World Economic Forum.

Looking forward to the "14th Five-Year Plan"

Taking greening and intelligence as the core theme, aiming at key shortcomings and making efforts

Jiang Shangqing pointed out that this year is the beginning of the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. The steel industry has also stood at a new historical intersection, and technological innovation has also been raised to an unprecedented level. However, technological innovation in the iron and steel industry still has outstanding shortcomings in key core technology areas. Insufficient original technological achievements, research on basic theoretical industry financing technology needs to be strengthened, some cutting-edge technologies, core technologies and key technologies are missing, resource and energy restrictions are severe, and intelligence still needs to be deepened. A batch of urgently needed key high-end products still need to be imported. .

“Especially because of the deep-seated contradictions accumulated over a long period of extensive development, my country’s steel industry needs to pay more attention to scientific and technological progress in the face of rapid international technological progress and profound changes in the market environment. Issues that must be resolved for a steel power to become a steel power,” Jiang Shangqing said.

Talking about the main tasks and directions of scientific and technological innovation in my country's steel industry during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Jiang Shangqing believes that in terms of innovation, my country's iron and steel industry must be able to lead the technological development trend of the world's iron and steel industry, and must be able to develop advanced products to ensure the development of downstream industries. Demand, we must be able to maintain the ability to sustain the development of the steel industry, and to make irreplaceable contributions to the development of China and the world. This requires us to take independence and control as the strategic basis, green and intelligent as the core theme, aim at key shortcomings, build an innovation ecosystem, and take the road of technological innovation.

The first is to make shortcomings technological breakthrough the main direction of technological innovation. At present, about 20% of my country's imported steel materials have not yet achieved independent control. Although the volume is only more than 2 million tons, they are mostly used in key domestic projects, major equipment, national defense and military industries and other key fields, and they are easily controlled by others. Especially in aviation bearings, aerospace engines, high-speed rail travel and braking components above 350 kilometers per hour, ultra-supercritical thermal power units above 630 degrees Celsius, fourth-generation nuclear power units, 5G and key components of the information industry, high-tech ships and offshore equipment There are still shortcomings in key steel materials for manufacturing, and the industry needs to strengthen research and fill the gaps.

In addition, my country is still in a state of following in low-carbon metallurgy, near-net-shape manufacturing, intelligent manufacturing and other technologies, and some core detection and control equipment still relies on imports. In the foreseeable time, steel will still play an irreplaceable role for world development and human progress, but the application of anti-corrosion, corrosion resistance, forming, welding and other application technologies is not closely integrated with the development of steel materials, which limits the scope of steel applications.

The iron and steel industry must achieve a leap from following to leading the world steel industry, and fundamentally promote technological innovation to "make up for shortcomings", "strong foundation" and "promote improvement". It is necessary to concentrate efforts to overcome a batch of "stuck neck" iron and steel materials. And core technologies, it is necessary to strengthen basic research and applied basic research, and to expand and enhance the first-mover advantage and follow-up strength of product development and industrial upgrading through forward-looking and original innovation. In the next step, we must strengthen strategic and goal guidance, aim at the frontiers of science and technology, and finally realize the iterative upgrade and leadership of core technologies.

The second is to make green and intelligent as the two major themes of technological development. The iron and steel industry is one of the major industries in my country that emit industrial fumes, consume resources, and generate solid waste. At present, my country's steel production is still dominated by traditional blast furnace processes, and the proportion of short electric furnace processes is less than 10%. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, my country will comprehensively promote ultra-low emissions in the iron and steel industry. However, in the implementation of ultra-low emissions transformation of iron and steel, there are still problems such as insufficient technical reserves, high investment and operating costs of existing technologies, and neglect of unconventional pollutants. . In September 2020, President Xi Jinping solemnly proposed at the general debate of the 75th United Nations General Assembly that China's carbon dioxide emissions will strive to reach the peak by 2030 and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. At the same time, under the pressure of the most stringent steel environmental protection standards in the world, my country has mastered some of the world's leading energy-saving and emission-reduction technologies. Facing the coexisting opportunities and challenges, my country's steel industry needs to follow the trend and strive to lead the green development of the world's steel industry. On the one hand, iron and steel companies should independently develop new technologies and processes in key areas such as flue gas treatment, comprehensive utilization of solid waste, energy conservation and consumption reduction; on the other hand, they should rationally increase the proportion of electric furnace short processes, develop new low-carbon metallurgical technologies, and expand New ways to save energy and reduce emissions and realize the green and sustainable development of the steel industry.

In recent years, intelligent manufacturing has developed rapidly on a global scale, which has had an important impact on industrial development, the pattern of division of labor, and the promotion of the formation of new production methods, industrial patterns, and business models. At present, most steel enterprises in my country are still at the stage of integration of industrialization and industrialization. In the production process, intelligent technologies such as big data have not been fully applied. There are problems such as heavy intelligent hardware infrastructure, light intelligent system integration and upgrading, and insufficient power for enterprise intelligent upgrading. The steel industry needs to fully grasp the opportunity of the industrial revolution brought by the new generation of information technology, and integrate intelligent technologies such as smart sensors, fifth-generation mobile communications, Internet of Things, industrial Internet, artificial intelligence, digital twins, big data and cloud computing into steel manufacturing In the process of operation and decision-making, comprehensively cultivate new momentum for steel development, seize the commanding heights of future development, and create new competitive advantages in my country's steel industry.

"In short, we must accelerate the establishment of a steel material system with independent intellectual property rights, and realize the independent controllability and sustainable innovation of key steel materials for high-end equipment and major projects. With green and intelligent as the driving force, we will build steel and downstream industries. , Society and nature are integrated and developed in an ecosystem to achieve high-quality development.” Jiang Shangqing emphasized in the end. Source: China Metallurgical Press