Progress of new technologies and fundamental theory about ironmaking

The Chinese government made a statement at the 75th United Nations General Assembly in 2020 to increase the country’s nationally determined contributions, adopt more effective policies and measures, strive to reach the peak of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. In recent years, with the rapid development of the iron and steel industry, the iron and steel industry has been promoted by various measures such as large-scale equipment, high-efficiency energy utilization, and reduction of pollutant emissions. Moreover, this industry has gradually made efforts to achieve low-carbon emissions. However, due to the particularity of the steel industry’s process system, the steel industry is still the main battlefield in China’s carbon emission reduction. The ironmaking process accounts for the largest proportion of energy consumption and emissions in the entire process of iron and steel smelting. Annual CO₂ emissions of the iron and steel industry account for 6.7% of total global emissions, of which the energy consumption and emissions of the ironmaking system account for the total energy consumption of the entire iron and steel process, facing the important challenge of saving energy and emission reduction. To adapt to the trend and realize the transformation and upgrading of the ironmaking industry, various processes of the ironmaking industry have made great efforts in reform and innovation in recent years. This article introduces the new technology of sintering pellet quality improvement and consumption reduction from the aspects of new ironmaking technology and basic theoretical research, analysis of coke behavior in the blast furnace, blast furnace clean fuel injection technology, blast furnace longevity technology, blast furnace ironmaking data modeling technology, and metallurgical dust and mud reprocessing technology. Starting from basic research, the new ironmaking technology with the most potential is proposed. Then, under the general background of the current national carbon neutral strategy, the current international non-blast furnace ironmaking technology research progress is reviewed to provide a basis for the development of low-carbon ironmaking in China. Finally, starting from the latest micro-research methods, it introduces the current research progress in the field of ironmaking in the micro-scale, multi-scale comprehensive regulation and control of the mechanism of the blast furnace ironmaking process, and provides ideas for the future development of low-carbon ironmaking.