Since the beginning of this year, the environmental protection pressure on the steel industry has been increasing day by day. Under the dual pressure of high costs and low efficiency, the key steel enterprises under the statistics of the China Iron and Steel Association have continued to increase investment, strengthen energy conservation and emission reduction management and pollution control efforts, and have achieved a continuous decline in indicators such as process energy consumption, comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel, electricity consumption per ton of steel, and fresh water consumption per ton of steel. In the first three quarters of this year, the pollutant emissions of key steel enterprises have decreased significantly. However, with the growth of steel production, indicators such as total energy consumption, total water consumption, total fresh water intake, repeated water consumption, and total waste gas emissions have all increased year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter, with the growth rate being lower than that of the monthly crude steel output.

The comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel has continued to decline. In the first three quarters of this year, the total energy consumption of key steel enterprises was 209.664 million tons of standard coal, an increase of 4.814 million tons of standard coal compared with the same period last year, representing a growth of 2.35%. The comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel was 593.14 kilograms of standard coal per ton, a decrease of 10.75 kilograms of standard coal per ton compared with the same period last year, representing a reduction of 1.78%. The electricity consumption per ton of steel was 464.34 kilowatt-hours per ton, a decrease of 15.75 kilowatt-hours per ton compared with the same period last year, representing a reduction of 3.28%.

From the perspective of process energy consumption indicators, in the first three quarters of this year, the sintering, pelletizing, coking, ironmaking, converter steelmaking, electric furnace steelmaking, and steel processing processes of key steel enterprises all decreased year-on-year, with declines of 2.49%, 2.25%, 7.97%, 0.77%, 29.5%, 7.52%, and 2.09% respectively. In the steel processing procedures, the hot rolling process decreased by 1.5% year-on-year. Among them, the energy consumption indicators of large sections, small sections, medium and heavy plates, hot-rolled wide strips and seamless tubes decreased by 5.02%, 1.95%, 1.79%, 2.36% and 4.82% respectively year-on-year. The energy consumption of medium sections, wire rods and hot-rolled narrow strips increased slightly year-on-year, with increases of 1.28%, 0.48% and 6.28% respectively. The energy consumption of the cold rolling process decreased by 4.2% year-on-year. Among them, the energy consumption of the cold rolling wide strip, cold rolling narrow strip, coating and plating processes decreased by 3.37%, 8.49%, 7.58% and 8.23% respectively year-on-year.

The reuse rate of water has increased. In the first three quarters of this year, the total water consumption of key steel enterprises was 54.583 billion cubic meters, an increase of 2.636 billion cubic meters year-on-year, representing a growth of 5.07%. Among them, the volume of fresh water extracted was 1.312 billion cubic meters, an increase of 5.6234 million cubic meters year-on-year, representing a growth of 0.43%. The volume of reused water was 53.271 billion cubic meters, an increase of 2.63 billion cubic meters year-on-year, representing a growth of 5.19%. The water reuse rate was 97.60%, an increase of 0.11 percentage points year-on-year. The new water consumption per ton of steel was 3.55 cubic meters per ton, a decrease of 0.19 cubic meters per ton compared with the same period last year, representing a decline of 4.99%.

The emissions of major pollutants have been significantly reduced. In the first three quarters of this year, the cumulative amount of wastewater discharged by key steel enterprises was 368 million cubic meters, a decrease of 39.6707 million cubic meters compared with the same period last year, representing a reduction rate of 9.73%. Among them, the cumulative emissions of chemical oxygen demand decreased by 16.19% year-on-year, the cumulative emissions of ammonia nitrogen decreased by 25.30% year-on-year, the cumulative emissions of volatile phenols decreased by 5.53% year-on-year, the cumulative emissions of cyanide increased by 5.61% year-on-year, the cumulative emissions of suspended solids decreased by 27.16% year-on-year, and the cumulative emissions of petroleum decreased by 20.96% year-on-year.

In the first three quarters of this year, the cumulative waste gas emissions of key statistical enterprises reached 7,238.396 billion standard cubic meters, an increase of 362.442 billion standard cubic meters year-on-year, representing a growth of 5.27%. Among them, the cumulative emissions of sulfur dioxide in the discharged exhaust gas decreased by 3.00% year-on-year, the cumulative emissions of smoke dust decreased by 2.70% year-on-year, and the cumulative emissions of industrial dust decreased by 0.65% year-on-year. The total emissions of smoke and dust decreased by 1.27% compared with the same period last year.

The utilization rate of steel slag has significantly increased. In the first three quarters of this year, the cumulative amount of steel slag produced by key steel enterprises was 47.4146 million tons, an increase of 1.3772 million tons compared with the same period last year, representing a growth of 2.99%. The cumulative production of blast furnace slag was 130 million tons, an increase of 7.11% year-on-year. The cumulative generation of iron-containing dust and sludge was 22.7303 million tons, representing a year-on-year increase of 2.39%. The utilization rate of steel slag was 96.16%, an increase of 0.44 percentage points year-on-year. The utilization rate of blast furnace slag was 99.51%, a year-on-year decrease of 8.87 percentage points. The utilization rate of iron-containing dust and sludge was 99.90%, a year-on-year decrease of 2.93 percentage points.

The utilization rate of converter gas has steadily increased. In the first three quarters of this year, the cumulative production of blast furnace gas by key steel enterprises was 564.13 billion cubic meters, an increase of 5.98% year-on-year. The cumulative production of converter gas was 34.074 billion cubic meters, increasing by 11.44% year-on-year. The cumulative production of coke oven gas was 35.152 billion cubic meters, an increase of 0.09% year-on-year. The utilization rate of blast furnace gas was 95.98%, a year-on-year decrease of 0.04 percentage points. The utilization rate of converter gas was 96.58%, an increase of 0.75 percentage points year-on-year. The utilization rate of coke oven gas was 97.09%, a decrease of 0.43 percentage points year-on-year.