The first domestic one-million-ton hydrogen-based vertical furnace project has been successfully ignited and put into production at Baosteel's Zhanjiang Iron and Steel.

The first domestic one-million-ton hydrogen-based vertical furnace project has been successfully ignited and put into production at Baosteel's Zhanjiang Iron and Steel.

On December 23rd, the first domestic hydrogen-based vertical furnace project with a capacity of one million tons was successfully ignited and put into production at Baosteel's Zhanjiang Iron and Steel, marking a significant step in the demonstration and landmark transformation of China's steel industry towards green and low-carbon. This project represents the largest integrated production line in China that utilizes multiple gas sources and ultimately adopts full hydrogen for industrial production of direct reduced iron, leading the way in the transformation of traditional steel metallurgical processes.
Baosteel's Zhanjiang Iron and Steel's one million-ton hydrogen-based vertical furnace project commenced construction on February 15, 2022. The main facilities include the vertical furnace body, vertical furnace loading and unloading system, product cooling system, gas circuit system, raw material input and finished product output systems, as well as supporting systems such as the pellet supply system, energy public auxiliary system, and information system. With a focus on independent integration and innovation, Baosteel's Zhanjiang Iron and Steel applied self-developed refractory materials and domestically produced vertical conveyor belts with the highest height of 112 meters for the first time. The project's equipment and facilities have a domestication rate exceeding 70%, actively promoting the high-end development of domestic manufacturing enterprises. Baosteel's Zhanjiang Iron and Steel, in efficient collaboration with China Steel International, Shanghai Baoye, and other participating units, continuously overcame difficulties and bottlenecks, ensuring comprehensive control of project safety, quality, and progress. The project was completed and put into operation more than two months ahead of the original plan, once again demonstrating the "Zhangang speed."
Hydrogen is one of the most promising clean energy sources. Compared to traditional carbon metallurgy, hydrogen metallurgy uses hydrogen as both fuel and reducing agent, enabling iron refining to break free from dependence on fossil fuels and addressing carbon emissions at the source. In Baowu's carbon-neutral metallurgical roadmap, hydrogen-based vertical furnaces, as the core of hydrogen metallurgy, are identified as one of the crucial paths for carbon-neutral metallurgical technology. It is estimated that after the project is put into operation, compared to the equivalent scale of iron production using traditional blast furnace processes, it can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 500,000 tons annually.
Distinguished from the conventional method of using natural gas to prepare reduction process gases internationally, the project adopts Baowu's globally pioneering "Hydrogen Metallurgy Electrofusion Smelting Process" (HyRESP). Through green and short processes such as hydrogen-rich gas purification, hydrogen-based vertical furnace reduction, carbon dioxide capture, and direct reduction product cooling, the project innovatively applies a series of leading technologies, including "direct reduction coke oven gas refining," "flexible allocation of process gases," and "cold-state direct reduction iron product disposal and application." This accumulation of experience will contribute to the subsequent independent integration and development of fully hydrogen metallurgical technology, forming low-carbon metallurgical process technology with proprietary intellectual property rights, which holds significant importance for the green and low-carbon development of the steel industry.