【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Equipment】The world’s first 1.2 million-ton hydrogen metallurgy demonstration project was completed and put into operation between 2016 and 2022

Hydrogen energy is regarded as the clean energy with the greatest potential for development in the 21st century. In traditional metallurgical processes, approximately 1.83 tons of carbon dioxide are produced for every ton of steel manufactured ； The implementation of the HBIS hydrogen metallurgy demonstration project can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 70%, meaning that the carbon emissions per ton of steel can be reduced to around 0.5 tons. Energy transformation is an important pathway to achieving the dual-carbon goals. As a pioneer in the green transformation of the steel industry, HBIS has been deeply involved in the innovative integration and coordinated development of hydrogen and steel production. It keeps a close eye on the research and development advancements in hydrogen-based metallurgy worldwide, and collaborates with well-known companies such as Tenor of Italy. By making full use of its abundant resources of coke oven gas, it has pioneered the use of this gas as a reducing agent without the need for reformation, with plans to gradually shift towards hydrogen metallurgy techniques that use 100% green hydrogen derived from wind or solar energy as the reducing agent in the future. The first phase of the HBIS hydrogen metallurgy demonstration project has been fully completed, playing a significant role in breaking through the core key technologies of hydrogen metallurgy and driving the transformation and upgrading of China’s steel industry. By continuously developing the theories and standard systems related to hydrogen metallurgy, it provides new approaches and scenarios for the steel industry to reduce its heavy reliance on traditional fossil fuels such as coal.

On November 22, 2019, HBIS Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Italian company Tenova, agreeing to carry out in-depth cooperation in the field of hydrogen metallurgy. By utilizing the world’s most advanced hydrogen production and hydrogen reduction technologies, the two parties will work together with MCC Jingcheng to develop and build the world’s first hydrogen metallurgy demonstration project with a capacity of 1.2 million tons.

Unlike the conventional international methods that use natural gas to produce reducing gas, the world’s first \"direct reduction using coke oven gas without reforming in a shaft furnace\" process technology is the core component of the HBIS hydrogen metallurgy demonstration project. Wang Hongbin, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Zhangxuan Technology of HBIS Group, explained that as a hydrogen-rich gas, coke oven gas contains 55%–65% hydrogen by volume; it can be catalytically cracked into carbon monoxide and hydrogen in a hydrogen-based vertical furnace, thereby achieving \"self-reforming\". Since the restructuring, the hydrogen-to-carbon ratio in the process gas can reach over 8:1, making it the gas-based shaft furnace direct reduction process with the highest hydrogen content in current industrial applications – and it is closest to the process condition of 100% hydrogen reduction in the future. At the same time, the shaft furnace reactor of HBIS hydrogen metallurgy demonstration project has been optimized for high hydrogen content levels, and it features a function for switching to green hydrogen. This enables industrial tests to be carried out immediately using hydrogen-rich reducing gases or pure hydrogen as reducing agents, without the need for extensive modifications, thus laying the foundation for achieving 100% green hydrogen-based direct reduction in shaft furnaces in the future.

By adopting green, streamlined processes such as hydrogen-rich gas purification, hydrogen-based shaft furnace reduction, carbon capture and reuse, and EAF-based clean steel production, and by innovatively applying a range of cutting-edge technologies including a new process route of \"CO₂ capture + CO₂ purification,\" Hebei Iron and Steel Group is developing an innovative development model for the production of hydrogen and the advancement of hydrogen energy industries that is scalable and replicable, with elements of \"zero-carbon\" operations. It is estimated that, compared with the traditional long-process \"blast furnace + converter\" process of the same production scale, the first phase of HBIS’ hydrogen metallurgy demonstration project can reduce CO₂ emissions by 800,000 tons per year, representing a reduction rate of over 70%. Meanwhile, emissions of SO₂, NOx, and particulate matter are reduced by 30%, 70%, and over 80%, respectively. Additionally, approximately 125 kilograms of carbon dioxide can be captured for every ton of directly reduced iron produced. It is reported that the high-end metal material production line based on electric furnaces, which is part of the Hebei Iron and Steel Hydrogen Metallurgy demonstration project, will make full use of the advantages of direct reduced iron, namely low carbon emissions and high purity. This line will focus on the research and development of short-process technologies with near-zero carbon emissions, explore the limits of carbon reduction in the context of process changes, and gradually unlock the potential for carbon reduction across the entire process, thereby creating the first \"zero-carbon\" demonstration production line in the industry.