CISDI and University of Science & Technology Beijing (USTB) have teamed up to launch the first cross-China federation aiming to advance the technology which will upgrade the country’s electric arc furnace industry.

China’s Green and Smart EAF Industrial League, based in Chongqing, launched on February 2. Its 21 members from across the country include electric arc furnace manufacturers and suppliers, science and technology research institutes and trade organisations.

The formation of the league comes against the backdrop of China’s determination to make its technology processes and upgrades greener and smarter. It will push China’s electric arc furnace technology to become more efficient, cleaner and more environmentally-friendly, which will aid the development of electric arc furnace steelmaking and mini-mill construction.

The League plans to set up platforms for research and development, standardisation and application.

It hopes to develop greater interaction between enterprises, universities and research institutes and create a new eco-manufacture chain for full production process, multi-faceted management and full product life-cycle.

In its role as one of the initiators of the league, CISDI set up research and development management systems characteristic of an engineering company and created a complete technological innovation eco-chain covering theoretical study to lab research, pilot base, engineering design and industrial application.

CISDI has successfully developed a new-generation green electric arc furnace, with the support of its own national technology research centre and the State’s scientific and technological programme.

The CISDI-Green EAF upgrades the technology and production process of a conventional EAF.

CISDI’s many years of exploration and experience have enabled the company to create a synergised environment-friendly EAF design, manufacture, management and research process, enabling the design and manufacture of EA equipment. The new generation arc furnace is in line with and some areas exceed world-leading technical and economical indicators with excess fume heat from the smelting process used for pre-heating the scrap and effective dioxin control. This latest technology greatly reduces energy consumption and ensures hazardous effluent is discharged in compliance with national and regional standards.

One successful reference is the export of a high-impedance, ultra-high power EAF which uses 100% scrap as the main raw material for smelting and consumes only 385kW·h of energy per tonne of steel, a world leading figure for 100% scrap production.