Replacing coke with gas: a win-win for natural gas and the metallurgy industry

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Replacing coke with gas: a win-win situation for natural gas and the metallurgy industry. I. Energy consumption patterns in steel enterprises: Steel accounts for 18.2% of China’s total energy consumption. The steel industry is a major energy consumer; the comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel ranges from 0.7 to 0.9 tons of standard coal ； The joint venture consumes 400–600 kW·h of electricity per ton of steel produced. The main energy sources used in steel production include coking coal, thermal coal, fuel oil, and natural gas ； The steel production process primarily uses coke, electricity, gaseous fuels, and steam. Among various fuels, gaseous fuels are the easiest to control in combustion and have the highest thermal efficiency, making them a highly popular fuel in steel mills. The fuel consumption cost in steel production accounts for 41% of the total costs, and about 40% of the primary energy used is converted into process by-product gas, of which coke oven gas makes up 46% ； Blast furnace gas is 45% ； Converter gas is 9%. The production workshops of steel companies basically use various gaseous fuels with different calorific values, and these gaseous fuels play an important role in the thermal energy balance of steel production. Natural gas contains large amounts of hydrocarbon gases with a high calorific value; upon conversion, it can yield reducing gases primarily composed of H2 and CO, which are used for the reduction and calcination of iron ore, blast furnace injection, and the direct reduction of iron ore. It is one of the most popular gas fuels. Typically, the ironmaking section of steel companies consists of coking, sintering, and blast furnace processes, and the energy consumed in these processes accounts for over 30% of the total energy used in steel production. In particular, coke must be used. Although our country is rich in coal resources, there is a shortage of coking coal for metallurgical use; coking coal accounts for only 5.9% of the total reserves, and its distribution is uneven. Insufficient quantities of coking coal and declining quality are the weak links restricting the development of steel production in our country. Since the 1980s, the quality of metallurgical coke produced by key enterprises has been declining steadily. Over the past decade, the ash content has increased from 13.58% to 14.58% (3%–4% higher than that in foreign countries), while the sulfur content has risen from 0.66% to 0.72%. The quality of coke has become one of the important factors affecting steel production in our country. In recent years, the demand for coke by domestic metallurgical enterprises has led to an increasing use of coking coals with low cohesion and high volatility, such as gas and fertilizer coals, in coke production mixes. This has resulted in more coke fragmentation and a decline in its strength and quality. In coking coal, the ash-free basis volatile matter of dry coking coal, Vdaf, is greater than 20.0–28.0%, while the gas yield, Vt, is 270–310 m3/t ； Fatty coal: Vdaf > 28.0–37.0%, Vt = 310–410 m3/t ； Bituminous coal has a Vdaf > 37.0%, and Vt = 410–1000 m3/t. As a result, the advanced gas-steam combined cycle power generation method has also been well applied in metallurgical enterprises. All these provide favorable opportunities for natural gas to enter the metallurgy market with its cost advantage. II. Natural gas and blast furnace injection technology in iron production Blast furnace ironmaking is currently the main method used for producing pig iron in steel manufacturing. In recent years, to address the shortage of high-quality coking coal, integrated injection technology has been developed. Blast furnaces can be fed with various fuels such as gases, liquids, and solids. Gaseous fuels include natural gas, coke oven gas, etc. The main component of natural gas is CH4 (over 90%), while the main component of coke oven gas is H2 (over 55%). Liquid fuels include heavy oil, diesel, tar, etc ； They have a high carbon content, low ash content, and high calorific value. Solid fuels include anthracite and bituminous coal, whose composition is essentially the same as that of coke ； The disadvantages are high ash content and high sulfur content. Before 1981, most blast furnaces in China’s key steel enterprises used heavy oil for iron production; subsequently, policy changes led to the use of coal instead, and today all such furnaces use coal powder. To improve the fuel utilization rate and thermal efficiency of ironmaking blast furnaces and reduce the costs of subsequent processes such as desulfurization in steelmaking furnaces, a process of injecting high-temperature reducing gases into the furnace body has been developed recently. In this process, the hydrocarbon fuel is first decomposed outside the furnace to produce gases with high temperatures (around 1000°C) and strong reducing properties. These gases are then injected into the blast furnace from the lower part of the furnace or its waist, thereby indirectly reducing the reductive reaction zone and minimizing heat loss in the high-temperature areas; this approach allows for a significant reduction in the fuel consumption of the blast furnace. In foreign ironmaking blast furnaces, reducing gases generated by the high-temperature conversion of natural gas (150 m3/t of iron) are injected, thereby reducing the coke ratio (the amount of coke required to produce one ton of pig iron). K = amount of coke burned per day / iron produced per day, in kg/t), dropped below 300 kg/t of iron; the utilization factor of the blast furnace (the number of tons of pig iron produced per cubic meter of the blast furnace’s effective volume in one day). ηV = daily output / effective volume, in t/m3·d); it should be above 2.4 (the average value in China is 600 kg of iron per ton, with a blast furnace utilization factor of 1.7). In the former Soviet Union region, due to its abundant natural gas resources, natural gas is generally used as a fuel in blast furnaces for smelting. Since the 1980s, thanks to the large-scale extraction and efficient transportation of natural gas worldwide, as well as its relatively stable prices, a considerable number of blast furnaces for iron production in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and France have adopted the technology of injecting natural gas. The fuel used for blast furnace ironmaking in Japanese steel companies is mainly high-quality heavy oil, with natural gas also being used. Due to the presence of impurities such as ash in various existing solid fuels, gasification methods cannot produce qualified metallurgical reduction gas. Liquid fuels based on heavy oil are theoretically feasible for the partial oxidation process, but there are many issues, and further experimental development is required. The main gaseous fuel for metallurgical reduction gas is natural gas; other options include liquefied petroleum gas and coke oven gas. The purpose of the conversion reaction is to transform CH4 into usable CO and H2. There is no established method for the conversion of coke oven gas. Due to natural gas supply issues in our country, the use of high-temperature reducing gases in ironmaking blast furnaces has not developed properly. Undoubtedly, natural gas has considerable market potential in blast furnace ironmaking. III. Natural gas and direct reduction technologies in steel manufacturing: Coking coal accounts for only 10% of total coal reserves worldwide; as it is extracted in large quantities year after year, these reserves are declining rapidly, leading to rising prices. According to investigations by United Nations environmental organizations, the traditional steel industry is a major source of pollution; the harmful gases it emits (CO2, CO, NOX, SO2) contribute to the \"greenhouse effect\" that causes global warming and the expansion of the oceans. Since the 1990s, increasingly stringent environmental pollution emission standards at home and abroad have prompted companies to adopt new production processes. Metallurgists around the world have been working to develop methods that use natural gas as a reducing agent, leading to the development of a blast furnace-free direct reduction iron-making process (hereinafter referred to as the direct reduction method). Iron ore is reduced to sponge iron in a solid state, also known as direct reduced iron DRI. Direct reduction takes place at solid temperatures, and the resulting directly reduced iron does not undergo sufficient carburization, resulting in a low carbon content (<2%). As a result, sponge iron possesses properties similar to steel, and it is actually often used as a substitute for scrap steel. The direct reduction method is characterized by being a one-step process that directly converts iron ore into steel. Since the directly reduced slag and iron cannot be separated, in actual production direct reduced iron still needs to be refined into steel using an electric furnace. However, the role of electric furnace refining is mainly to melt away impurities and adjust the composition of the steel, rather than to oxidize and remove carbon. Due to the production of steel through direct reduction and electric furnace refining, a new short-process route for steel metallurgy has been developed. Direct reduction holds infinite potential for steel plants with a production capacity of 15×104–30×104 tons per year. Industrial trials of direct reduction began in the 1950s. After the large-scale exploitation of natural gas in the 1960s, and with the success of the Midrex process in the United States in 1968, direct reduction experienced rapid development. Although world steel production has remained around 8×108 tons per year in recent years, the output of short-process steel plants that use the direct reduction method has been growing at an average annual rate of 12.31% since 1975. Japanese scholars believe that in 2020, the direct reduction-electric furnace method will be on par with the blast furnace-converter method, accounting for over 45%. The paper is titled “Using Gas in Place of Coke: A Win-Win Situation for Natural Gas and the Metallurgical Industry”. 1. Background of the development of direct reduction: The objective reasons for developing direct reduction processes to produce sponge iron are as follows: (1) Most countries in the world suffer from a severe shortage of coking coal. Many of these countries, however, possess abundant high-quality iron ore resources, as well as natural gas and bituminous coal resources. Taking advantage of these local resources, they develop direct reduction plants; countries such as Venezuela, Indonesia, and Mexico have ample natural gas and high-quality iron ore, and they mainly use gas-based shaft furnaces for this purpose. According to statistics from 1995, the production volume from such facilities was 2829×104 tons per year, accounting for 92% of the total DRI production. (2) With the development of electric furnace-based production lines, the output of steel produced by electric furnaces has been increasing. In 1997, the world’s steel production was 7.8×108 tons per year, of which 57% came from oxygen converters, 33% from electric furnaces, and 13% from open-hearth furnaces. In recent years, the proportion of continuous casting in global steel production has increased rapidly, accounting for 72.7%. Steel complexes are producing less high-quality scrap steel, and in developing countries, due to a shortage of scrap steel, direct reduction methods are bound to be developed ； The increasing use of coated steel in developed countries has led to a sharp rise in harmful impurities in the scrap metal being recycled (according to statistics from the American Materials Council, tin and zinc levels in scrap steel in the United States have tripled over the past 25 years, while copper levels have increased by 20%). It is therefore necessary to dilute this scrap metal by adding 30% to 50% DRI sponge iron. (3) Over the past decade, the steel industry has faced competition from polymer materials and silicate materials, resulting in a stagnation in the world’s total steel production. Since reaching 7.83×108 tons per year in 1988, this figure has not increased since then. However, small specialized steel mills that succeed by focusing on quality, performance, and a diverse range of products have sprung up in large numbers and are thriving. When selecting raw materials for electric furnace steel, direct reduced iron is naturally the preferred choice; for example, stainless steel manufacturers first opt for low-carbon granular iron or low-carbon sponge iron as raw materials. To develop high-quality products and increase added value, directly reduced low-carbon sponge iron is used for the direct production of electrical-grade pure iron, ferrites, and industrial iron materials. 2. Gas-based shaft furnace direct reduction: The gas-based Midrex process consists of a feeding system, a reduction shaft furnace, flue gas treatment systems, natural gas treatment units, and a natural gas reformer. After being measured, the iron ore is fed into the furnace from the top. After preheating, it reacts with the process fuel, natural gas, in the reduction zone; the smelting process is completed after about 6 hours. The material is then cooled directly by cold air to below 100°C, and the final product is discharged from the bottom of the furnace. The exhaust gas generated during smelting still contains about 70% CO+H2. It passes through a reformer, where additional natural gas is added for cracking treatment, raising the concentration of CO+H2 in the gas to 90%–95% at a temperature of 900°C, before it is sent back into the vertical furnace for reuse. The reaction equations are as follows: CH4 + H2O → CO + 3H2↑ (natural gas cracking reaction); Fe2O3 + 3H2 → 2Fe + 3H2O; Fe2O3 + 3CO → 2Fe + 3CO2↑. The gas-based method features low energy consumption, high efficiency, good quality, ease of operation, low operating temperatures, and no need for further separation of the products. The gas-based method for producing DRI is viable in regions rich in natural gas. 3. Key parameters of the gas-based DRI process and its technical and economic advantages: (1) The contents of harmful elements in steel such as Sn, Sb, As, and Bi are significantly reduced, thereby improving the fracture toughness, hot workability, and cold workability of the steel. (2) Reducing the S and P contents in steel improves its impact toughness and lowers the temperature of the brittle transition. (3) Shorten the electric furnace refining period and improve the recovery rates of valuable elements such as Ni and Mo. (4) Reduce the content in steel. (5) High-quality alloy steel produced using DRI has good hot deformation capacity, making it suitable for use in deep-drawn steel sheets (see Table 1). Gas-based DRI indicators: Table 1. Item: Gas-based DRI single-furnace production capacity/(10,000 t/a); 15–16. Kiln utilization factor/t/(m3·d): 9–12. Fuel: Natural gas, 400 m3/t. Electricity consumption/(kw·h/t): Approximately 100. Thermal energy (GJ/t): 11. TFe/%: >93. Metalization rate/%: >93.4. Carbon content/%: 0.77–1.07. Sulfur content/%: <0.003. 4. The application of direct reduction methods in China: China possesses certain resources suitable for DRI production. Direct reduction technology was subsequently introduced in Fujian, Liaoning, Jilin, Henan and other regions, but due to limitations in natural gas supply, all such facilities used coal-based rotary kilns, resulting in limited production capacity. In the early 1990s, a major seamless steel pipe project was constructed simultaneously with the Changqing Northern Shaanxi gas field; it adopted key technologies and equipment from the British company Davy to build two coal-based rotary kilns with an annual production capacity of 30×104 tons each, each having a diameter of φ5×80m. The total investment for the project was 13.5 billion yuan, yet it only resulted in an annual production capacity of 560,000 tons. Although high-quality imported ore from abroad is used, due to factors such as the quality of coal in the North China region, the plant has not yet achieved the economic and technical targets set for producing high-quality steel since it began operation (the level of impurity elements Sn+Sb+As in Japanese oil pipes is only 0.0035%, whereas that in the steel pipes produced by this seamless pipe factory is currently 0.018%, a difference of more than 5 times). IV. Comparison of natural gas market prices and estimation of efficiency improvements in smelting applications. In the metallurgical reduction process, hydrocarbon fuels serve both as a reducing agent that removes oxygen from the ore and as a fuel carrier that provides the heat necessary for the reaction. Natural gas is introduced into the metallurgical process primarily as a reducing agent, replacing part of the coke. Therefore, in accordance with the conventional pricing approach based on the thermal value of energy sources (thermal value as well as ash and sulfur content), it is reasonable to use coke as a benchmark for comparison with the market price of natural gas’s thermal value, thereby determining the benefits of using natural gas in blast furnaces for iron production. 1. Natural gas price comparison: based on high-quality coking coal with 12% ash content and 0.7% sulfur content ； And for smelting reduction, an increase of 0.1% in sulfur content results in a 2% decrease in efficiency ； Natural gas contains no ash and is characterized by factors such as sulfur content, which allows for the estimation of the prices of coke and natural gas in major regions. Regarding the current price of natural gas, when compared with coke, which is widely used as a fuel in the industrial sector and as a raw material in the chemical industry and has a relatively high price, it can be seen that: (1) the market‑acceptable high price for natural gas is roughly on par with the specific heat value of coke, adjusted to account for its ash content ； It indicates that general industrial fuel users basically merely acknowledge the advantages of natural gas, such as its high calorific value, ease of control, and lack of ash. (2) A simple comparative valuation based on the low prices of products primarily made from chemical raw materials, which are lower than the thermal value of coke ； Affected by the planned allocation policies, the price of natural gas for use in the chemical industry is severely distorted; in much of the southern regions and their coastal areas, this price is generally lower than the calorific value of local coke. Thus, what appears to be expensive natural gas is actually a high-quality and inexpensive raw material in those areas. (3) Currently, the price at which natural gas is purchased deviates from the **established system for pricing energy based on its thermal value** ； This indicates that the technological advantages of using natural gas as a refining feedstock have not been fully developed and utilized, nor are they widely recognized by society. As can be seen from Table 2, in the initial stage of market regulation for natural gas prices, they were linked to the simple ash- and sulfur-free calorific value of coke, which was reasonable and acceptable to users. If priority is given in the initial stage to developing markets for high-quality materials such as reducing gases used in metallurgy, thereby highlighting the various advantages of natural gas – including its ash-free and sulfur-free nature, ease of desulfurization, ease of conversion, and complete and stable combustion – as well as its benefits in improving the quality of industrial products and enhancing production efficiency, then natural gas prices, under market regulation, may become more reasonable. 2. Estimation of the benefits of injecting natural gas into ironmaking blast furnaces: In the process of ironmaking in blast furnaces, generally speaking, for every 0.1% increase in the sulfur content of the coke used in these furnaces ； The specific gravity increases by 3–6%, while the output of pig iron decreases by 5%. For each 1% increase in the ash content of blast furnace coke, the coke ratio rises by about 1–2%, while the pig iron production decreases by around 2%. Natural gas is used as a partial substitute for coke in the reduction injection process in ironmaking blast furnaces. Due to the factors mentioned above, foreign experience shows that the blast furnace coefficient can be increased from the current 1.7 to 2.4, resulting in a 41.2% improvement in production efficiency (see Table 3). Table 3: Calculation Table of Benefits of Using Natural Gas Instead of Coal Powder in Blast Furnace Iron Production
Production indicators: Ratio of fuel used for injection (kg/t of iron); Injection ratio; Blast furnace efficiency (t of iron/m3·day).
Notes: For coal powder, the values are 55085 (kg of coal/t of iron) and a blast furnace efficiency of 1.7; these represent the average values of major domestic steel manufacturers. For natural gas, the values are 400150 (m3 of gas/t of iron) and a blast furnace efficiency of 2.4. These figures are taken from relevant literature.
References for fuel costs: Cost of coking coal (yuan/t of iron); Cost of coal/gas usage (yuan/t of iron); Efficiency-related costs (yuan/t of iron); Cost of pig iron (yuan/t of iron). Percentage increase in cost efficiency: Coking coal – 450 yuan/t; Coal powder – 200 yuan/t; Overall efficiency improvement – 247.5%, 175.3%, 55.8%. For natural gas, the costs are 10.8 yuan/m3; corresponding efficiency improvements are 180%, 120%, 314.96%, with cost reductions of 14.92% and 3.1%. When natural gas is used at 21.0 yuan/m3, the efficiency improvements are 180%, 150%, 314.96%, with cost reductions of 44.91% and 19.4%. As can be seen from this table, although the use of natural gas in blast furnaces increases the unit cost of fuel compared to coal powder, the overall efficiency of the production process improves, resulting in a comprehensive benefit increase of over 20%. This indicates that natural gas metallurgy applications have good market prospects. The possibility of creating a mutually beneficial \"win-win\" market: As a special type of commodity, natural gas is difficult to store, which means that once it is extracted, it must be consumed in a continuous manner. The development and utilization of natural gas constitute a systematic effort that involves integration across various stages of the supply chain, as well as participation from different regions and industries. The development patterns of the natural gas industry are subject to market constraints far more strongly than those of the oil industry. A lack of users has always been the \"bottleneck\" restricting the development of the natural gas industry. Current developments in the natural gas market focus primarily on improving the atmospheric environment and power generation. However, the complexity of urban construction and renovation, the monopoly nature of the power industry, and the diverse preferences of end-users make it difficult to expand this market. Given our country’s current economic and technological level, developing the processing industry using natural gas as a raw material requires substantial investment, and the products will also have to compete fiercely in both domestic and international markets. Developing an independent natural gas power industry does not offer significant price advantages over coal and hydroelectric power in China’s western and northern regions. From the perspective of commodity economics, high-quality products should first meet the needs of end consumers in society, rather than undergoing further processing and transformation. The use of natural gas for power generation and in the chemical industry involves processing and conversion processes, which add extra steps and costs to energy utilization, thereby failing to take advantage of natural gas as one of the few primary energy sources that can be used directly by end-users. In the global natural gas market, gas used in the metallurgical industry accounts for a large proportion; in Russia, for example, gas is used for metallurgical purposes accounting for 15% of the total usage, while 40% is used for power generation ； OPEC: 27% for metallurgical and construction purposes, 32% for power generation ； Both are second only to the proportion allocated to power generation. The metallurgical industry is also the largest consumer of electricity. Although our country has become the world’s largest steel producer, with production reaching 1.25×108 tons per year in 2000, imports continue to rise due to a relative structural surplus. According to available data, steel imports were 1100×104 tons in 1997, 1380×104 tons in 1998, 1500×104 tons in 1999, and 1596×104 tons in 2000; it is estimated that this figure will reach 1700×104 tons in 2001. Although the oil industry is not the largest consumer of steel, it is the biggest importer of steel due to the high requirements for oil-related materials, accounting for around 40% of such imports. “The implementation of the \"West-to-East Gas Transmission\" project will lead to a peak in demand for high-quality steel. Producing qualified steel that can serve as a substitute for imported materials using such high-quality raw materials will undoubtedly bring dual opportunities and benefits to the development of domestic steel manufacturers and natural gas production companies. In the early stages of the development of the natural gas market, it was necessary to determine the direction of progress, that is, to select the markets that could be developed first among the numerous areas where natural gas could be utilized. International experience shows that, due to differences in natural gas resources, levels of economic development, and energy consumption patterns among various countries, the development paths of early-stage natural gas markets varied significantly. In developed countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, where coal-based gas production is highly advanced, in the early stages of development of the natural gas industry, natural gas was first used to gradually replace coal-based gas, eventually taking its place – in other words, the domestic market was developed first. In developing countries**, due to limitations in economic capacity, the use of coal for gas production in civilian applications is not well-developed; as a result, there is a lack of the necessary infrastructure for utilizing coal-based gas production. In the early stages of natural gas development, it was mainly used for producing fertilizers and generating electricity. In the early stages of natural gas development in the former Soviet Union, this same approach was followed. In recent years, with the development of China’s economic construction, the electricity supply market has become abundant ； After all, the use of natural gas in chemical production is limited (less than 10% in most parts of the world), and these products also face competition following China’s entry into the WTO ； The infrastructure for coal-to-gas production is even weaker. Therefore, copying foreign experiences is not suitable in practice. Faced with the shortage of high-quality coking coal resources in the country, the large volume but low quality of steel production, and the market demand for high-quality feedstock, it is necessary to explore early development approaches for the natural gas market that suit China’s actual conditions. Steel complexes equipped with blast furnace, converter, and coke oven production systems generally have comprehensive gas separation and purification plants, large gas storage tanks for balance, as well as well-developed systems for supplying gas for industrial and domestic use, owing to the high output of gases generated by coke ovens, blast furnaces, converters, and during the air separation process ； Their capacity for balancing and recycling gaseous raw materials is generally higher than that of conventional chemical enterprises, which facilitates the establishment of a stable supply relationship with natural gas extraction companies, providing the objective material conditions necessary to implement a \"pay-as-you-go\" model for natural gas marketing. If the process of using gas instead of coke in iron production is adopted, it is possible to cooperate in replacing some of the facilities with those designed for natural gas use, thereby reducing investment in pipeline construction for peak demand management as well as in gas supply facilities for industrial and domestic use. “During the implementation of the \"West-to-East Gas Transmission\" project, developing the market for natural gas used in metallurgy and changing the structure of raw materials and fuels requires only investment in pipeline transportation on a door-to-door basis. If natural gas producers and steel manufacturers can establish a direct system for sharing consumables and energy, a close mutually beneficial relationship can be formed, thereby accelerating the development of the natural gas industry. Direct reciprocal trade significantly reduces transaction costs and improves the efficiency of capital utilization, enabling upstream companies that possess natural gas resources to directly enhance efficiency in the end-market. Conclusion: The Xinjiang natural gas \"West-to-East Gas Transmission\" project will start in Lunnan and pass through Korla, Shanshan, Hami, Liuyuan, Wuwei, Zhongning, Jingbian, Liulin, Zhengzhou, Nanjing, and finally reach Shanghai. The pipeline steel used will be of X70 grade, with a gas transmission pressure of 10 MPa. The design recommends the use of double pipelines with a diameter of Φ1016mm; the total length of the pipelines is approximately 4,000 kilometers. The initial gas transmission capacity will be 120×108 m3 per year. The fixed asset investment for the construction of these pipelines amounts to 38.4 billion yuan, while the investment for the first phase of the project is around 120 billion yuan. The steel production in the nine provinces and cities along the route accounts for one-third of the country’s total. If the comprehensive blowing agent used in blast furnaces with a production capacity of 3000×104 tons per year is changed from coal powder to natural gas, and if 40% of the sponge iron used in electric arc furnaces with a production capacity of 1000×104 tons per year is produced through gas-based direct reduction, then the annual consumption of natural gas could reach 61×108 m3. “The \"West-to-East Gas Transmission\" project initially focuses on developing gas for metallurgical use, holding great potential to kickstart the early stage of the natural gas market. At present, steel manufacturers in the western region are targeting a significant portion of their products at oil and gas industry users; for example, the sucker rod steel produced by Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel Plant and Qinghai Xining Special Steel Plant ； Medium and thick steel plates produced by Gansu Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company, with a width of 2800 mm and a thickness of 15–45 mm, suitable for use in high-pressure vessels as well as large-diameter straight-seam submerged arc welded high-pressure oil and gas pipelines ； Their products have been continuously supplied to the western oil and gas fields through various distribution channels. The mutual alignment of market supply and demand has created a solid foundation that enables natural gas production enterprises in the western region to develop surrounding markets, thereby achieving mutual benefits and increased efficiency as soon as the \"West-to-East Gas Transmission\" project was launched. Moreover, there is foreign experience available for reference. For example, the first cross-border gas pipeline built in the early 1980s by the former Soviet Union, stretching 5,000 kilometers from Ulyanovsk to West Germany and featuring 6 pipelines with a diameter of Φ1420mm, utilized a compensation trade financing model based on natural gas exchange pipelines to effectively address the issues related to funding for pipeline construction and market development. The construction of this pipeline and the recovery of its costs were completed in just about 3 years. Due attention should be paid to the development of potential markets, the cultivation of these markets, and the expansion of sales channels; those who first create the conditions for consumption and purchasing will be able to develop and seize the market first. Developing existing potential and practical natural gas mutual exchange markets, by exchanging resources for market access, will facilitate changes in the energy structure and the development of regional economies. This will increase domestic demand for oil and gas products; once implemented, it will immediately lead to a multi-faceted drive involving oil, gas, pipelines, steel, and regional economic markets, with their mutual demands boosting each other and promoting rapid development, thus accelerating the progress of the \"West-to-East Gas Transmission\" project. The development of the natural gas market for metallurgical use will yield multiple economic benefits, including the promotion of natural gas development through pipeline construction, the acceleration of pipeline construction itself, and the stimulation of regional economic development through such infrastructure.