Tangshan City to carry out the iron and steel industry "energy-saving diagnosis" to promote enterprises to achieve cost reduction and efficiency

In order to help steel enterprises lean production, reduce costs and increase efficiency, Tangshan City Bureau of Industry and Information Technology selected Wen Feng.Special steel, Ganglu Iron and Steel, Fengnan Zongheng and other key enterprises as samples, vigorously carried out the "energy-saving diagnosis" action, and achieved good results.

1. promotion background and reasons

Tangshan is a heavy industrial city, especially the iron and steel industry is the first pillar. At present, it has 20 smelting enterprises and 26 smelting plants (23 for long process and 3 for short process). In terms of production and manufacturing, "Tangshan Steel" has the characteristics of large scale and high energy consumption. In 2022, the whole citypig ironThe output of crude steel and steel are 114.573 million tons, 124.135 million tons and 183.22 million tons respectively. India (0.124 billion tons), which ranks second in crude steel output in the world, is only equivalent to Tangshan, while Japan and the United States, which rank third and fourth, are only about 70% of Tangshan. From January to September this year, the comprehensive energy consumption of the iron and steel industry reached 55.438 million tons of standard coal, accounting for a relatively large proportion in the province. The annual operation and maintenance of the main process equipment of the iron and steel industry is about 8 billion yuan. In terms of production and consumption, Tangshan is the world's largest steel market.

Over the years, in order to promote industrial transformation and upgrading, Tangshan Iron and Steel has made great efforts in capacity replacement, transformation and upgrading, which is unique in the country. Through capacity replacement, the city has withdrawn 60 relatively backward smelting equipment, including 39 blast furnaces and 21 converters. The average furnace capacity of blast furnaces has increased to 1592m and that of converters has increased to 139 tons, both exceeding the national average. The overall level of smelting equipment has a leading advantage in China, breakthroughs have been made in intelligent and green production, energy conservation and emission reduction, and the transformation of environmental protection facilities.

However, compared with other cities in the whole province and even in China, Tangshan iron and steel enterprises have large scale, large quantity and concentrated production, and their total energy consumption is still relatively high. On the other hand, the "software" problems formed by iron and steel enterprises for a long time, such as extensive production management and weak awareness of lean production, are still more prominent, which is a "stumbling block" hindering the high-quality development of enterprises ". Especially under the current "double carbon" goal, energy consumption double control, heavy pollution weather emergency response and other series of strategic policy requirements, Tangshan iron and steel industry urgently needs to reduce costs, reduce consumption and increase efficiency, this work is duty-bound, but also imminent, at the same time has a broad market space.

In this context, the Tangshan Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology vigorously carried out the "Energy-saving Diagnosis Action", with the help of professional and high-level third-party organizations, organized in-depth investigations and interviews of 68 companies, and comprehensively and systematically found their production management, For loopholes and problems in production operations, energy utilization, etc., check the pulse and prescribe the right medicine. Taking Zunhua Ganglu Iron and Steel Company as an example, through the first round of lean production diagnosis, we found 67 problems from 16 entry points in 4 aspects such as sintering, ironmaking, steelmaking and energy, and put forward 84 specific improvement measures involving raw materials, process, equipment, operation and management. Under the condition of basically not increasing equipment investment, we promoted the optimization of production operation and management, strengthen personnel training and assessment, tons of steel to achieve a reduction of more than 40 yuan/ton, the current reduction of 0.24 billion yuan, estimated annual efficiency of about 0.4 billion yuan. This action has promoted the rationalization, standardization and institutionalization of enterprise production and management, improved the quality of personnel, reduced production costs, improved enterprise efficiency, and enhanced the competitiveness of enterprises. Therefore, this action is suitable for industry-wide promotion and cross-industry promotion to better cope with the more severe industry situation and fierce market competition in the future.

2. key innovations

In the iron and steel industry to carry out "energy-saving diagnostic action", the key innovation point is to achieve substantial cost reduction and efficiency increase without increasing the burden on enterprises.

(I) small action, quick effect. Iron and steel production has the characteristics of continuity and uninterruptible. The construction of energy-saving diagnosis does not need to change the basic mechanism and civil foundation of the original heating furnace. It can be completed by regular maintenance time and will not cause additional burden to the enterprise. Energy saving and consumption reduction and technological innovation are related to the survival and development of enterprises, not to say that innovation can only be called from scratch, but reform on the existing basis is even more innovative.

(II) investment is small and the promotion is large. There are many steel production processes and a long industrial chain. The diagnosis work involves different links of equipment, technology, energy and management. In the sintering process, equipment configuration and process operation are taken as the starting points to reduce costs and improve quality. In the ironmaking process, the furnace condition analysis, raw fuel quality control and improvement of supporting conditions are taken as the starting points to realize smooth operation, low consumption and safety of blast furnace. Taking the steelmaking system and converter gas recovery as the starting point, the diagnosis of steelmaking process is cost-effective. Taking energy metering management, secondary energy recovery and utilization, water supply and power supply, and oxygen generation system as the starting point, we will promote energy conservation and consumption reduction. The whole process of each link almost did not increase equipment investment, but a large span to improve the level of cost reduction.

(III) sub-cycle, cure the fundamental. When improving and optimizing the diagnosed problems, according to different aspects such as operation, equipment, process, raw materials, management, etc., long-term, medium-term, and short-term improvement suggestions are put forward to further handle the short-term and long-term relationship, and focus on the combination of far and near, and the symptoms and root causes. It not only overcomes short-term difficulties, solves outstanding contradictions, but also strengthens key areas and weak links to lay the foundation for long-term development.

3. main practices

(I) unify our thinking and build consensus. Organize the city's industrial and information system and key iron and steel enterprises to hold mobilization and deployment meetings to unify their thinking and understanding, increase the degree of attention, and use platforms such as "entrepreneur quality improvement", "professional manager training" and "technical exchange forum" to strengthen training and learning, invite experts to carry out teaching and training, improve the execution and cohesion of diagnostic actions as a whole, and reach a consensus on actively carrying out diagnostic activities.

(II) questions need to be asked by enterprises and conducted in-depth research. The city and county-level industrial and credit systems form special classes to coordinate the strength of each line, release the service effect by means of research and visits to enterprises, grasp the needs of enterprises and understand the actual difficulties. Through centralized resident and periodic return visits, we will go deep into all production processes of the enterprise, fully communicate with relevant personnel of the enterprise, and confirm the source of the problem. A sample survey of enterprises that have carried out diagnosis, a typical summary of the lean production of steel companies such as Hong Kong Land and Wenfeng that have carried out and achieved significant results, and timely adjustment of assistance measures for enterprises with difficulties to solve practical problems.

(III) docking resources, improve the level. Extensively connect the technical resources of scientific research institutes and colleges and universities, organize high-level experts of different levels and majors in the industry, and hire experts not to be famous, but only practical and easy to use, which can effectively solve practical problems. The composition of the expert team is not only the workshop director and factory director with rich practical experience and long-term work in the front line, but also the chief engineer of the enterprise with strong comprehensive ability, as well as the researchers with high professional level and strong analytical ability, with a clear division of labor and their respective duties.

(IV) service first, centralized free clinic. In order to improve the enthusiasm of enterprises, a 1-2 day "free clinic" activity was carried out for each iron and steel enterprise in the city, and experts with rich practical experience and high professional level were sent to carry out special and one-to-one guidance on key issues related to production operation. The analysis of the key issues gives the corresponding theoretical explanation, so that the enterprise personnel to the problem "know what it is, know why". To professional enterprises, improve the enthusiasm of participation. At the same time, combined with the problems in production and operation, relevant training materials are prepared, and on-site operator training and examinations are carried out in targeted and batches to improve the operation level and overall quality of front-line workers. Through careful service, guide key high-consumption enterprises to carry out special diagnosis. And pay attention to do a good job in the diagnosis and optimization of the rectification of the "second half of the article", strengthen tracking, timely coordination of services, do a good job of estimation and evaluation.

4. Main Achievements and Experience Enlightenment

By carrying out production and energy-saving diagnosis work in key iron and steel enterprises such as Wenfeng Special Steel, Ganglu Iron and Steel, Fengnan Zongheng and other key iron and steel enterprises, we have promoted enterprises to carry out lean production management and achieved good results. At present, these work is still being carried out.

One is to improve the understanding of the concept. Over the years, iron and steel enterprises have become accustomed to economies of scale, focusing only on the pursuit of output and ignoring the details, and extensive management and production are more serious. For example, in 2021, when the profits of steel companies are generally around 1000 yuan per ton of steel, most companies do not pay attention to the cost gap of 80-100 yuan. When faced with market malaise and production losses, enterprises have no way to deal with it. There is a phenomenon that "soldiers are not trained in times of peace and are not available in times of war. Although in recent years, iron and steel enterprises have done a lot of work in environmental protection and energy conservation, and their understanding has been improved, but they still do not have a deep understanding of the concept of energy conservation and do not pay enough attention to it. Most enterprises do not carry out in-depth analysis on the energy consumption, by-product energy generation and efficient utilization of the whole plant, and even do not have a perfect energy balance plan for the whole plant. Through the "Energy-saving Diagnosis Action", experts conduct a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the energy consumption level in all aspects of the production process of the enterprise, and help the enterprise to formulate a plant-wide balance plan for gas and steam. The energy management system and management system are more perfect, and the understanding concept of managers is further improved.

The second is to improve the level of technology. Taking converter steelmaking as an example, the survey found that most steelmakers use 0.75mPa oxygen pressure blowing, mainly because they are worried that high oxygen pressure will cause splashing. In fact, this is a wrong understanding of converter steelmaking. Through the specific training and production guidance of the expert team, the blowing oxygen pressure is increased to 0.9-1.0mPa, which not only reduces the number of splashes, but also greatly shortens the oxygen blowing time from the original average of 14-15 minutes to 12-13 minutes. According to the average of each furnace steel to shorten the oxygen blowing time of 2 minutes, a day can be more than 2-3 furnace steel. In sintering production, measures such as increasing the preheating temperature of the mixture, implementing fuel pre-screening, low negative pressure and oxygen-enriched ignition are emphasized and helped for enterprises, which not only increase the output, but also reduce the fuel consumption. Before the expert team entered, the average daily output of Wenfeng Special Steel sinter was about 17000 tons. After nearly two months of guidance and improvement, the daily output increased to 20000 tons and the solid fuel consumption decreased by about 5 kg/t.

The third is to improve the system of management. Taking blast furnace ironmaking as an example, once the production is not smooth, most enterprises have the problem of "headache and foot pain", and there is no relevant technical personnel to carry out systematic analysis. The expert team systematically analyzes the blast furnace production in a period of time by obtaining the production data of one month, one quarter or even half a year, summarizing the law of the problem and finding the root cause of the problem. For example, the blast furnaces of Hong Kong and Land Steel experienced varying degrees of furnace condition abnormalities from the end of September to early October 2022.CokeThe quality is reduced, not the cause of the operator. The converter of Wenfeng Special Steel has a lot of splashing in a period of time, and the analysis shows that there is a big problem with the feeding system. These problems through the expert team pointed out and guidance to solve, have achieved good results. The number of converter splashing in Wenfeng Special Steel is controlled from more than 50% to less than 10%.

Four is to improve the level of comprehensive utilization. Taking converter gas recovery as an example, converter gas is an important by-product fuel for iron and steel enterprises and the key to energy conservation and emission reduction. The calorific value of converter gas in advanced enterprises can generally reach more than 1600kcal/m3. The survey found that the calorific value of converter gas in several enterprises is basically 1000-1100kcal/m3. Enterprises attach importance to the recovery amount and ignore the recovery quality, which not only causes energy waste, but also causes more carbon dioxide emissions. By improving the operation method of steelmaking workers, the quality of converter gas recovery can be improved in a short period of time, and the calorific value of gas can be increased by about 300kcal/m3 on average, which can reduce the production cost by 9-10 yuan per ton of steel. In sintering production, by guiding the enterprise to improve the preheating temperature of the mixture, it also has an immediate effect on reducing fuel consumption.

Five is to enhance the overall quality of enterprise personnel. At present, the employees of private iron and steel enterprises lack professional training and guidance. In the investigation, it is found that some employees in non-key positions are not clear about their responsibilities and perform the tasks mechanically. In view of this situation, a team of experts is organized to write tutorials according to the specific situation of the enterprise, to carry out full-coverage theoretical and practical training on a certain production workshop, and to conduct periodic examinations and technical competitions on a regular basis. Through training, examination and technical competition, the enterprise talent pool is established to provide the basis for the selection and recruitment of talents.

In addition, through the implementation of actions, the improvement of corporate raw fuel management, the optimization of technological transformation plans, and the improvement of organizational structure have achieved good results. At the end of the first round of "energy-saving diagnostic action", Wenfeng Special Steel conservatively estimated the annual cost reduction potential of 0.438 billion yuan. Hong Kong and Lu Steel conservatively estimated the annual efficiency increase of about 0.4 billion yuan. According to the city's 20 smelting enterprises, 26 smelting plant point calculation, the potential for reducing cost and consumption is huge.

In the next step, the Tangshan Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology will continue to organize professional, high-level expert teams and third-party organizations to conduct comprehensive and systematic consultations and prescribe the right medicine for the city's steel companies and other high-energy-consuming industries, and use typical cases as samples., Promote and promote the "energy-saving diagnosis action", enhance the lean production of enterprises, and improve comprehensive competitiveness.