The Low‐Carbon Production of Iron and Steel Industry Transition Process in China

Severe greenhouse gas emissions have made global warming one of humanity's most critical and intricate environmental challenges. As the world's largest producer and exporter of steel, China's steel industry contributes substantially to carbon emissions. The government formulated the policies and pathways to achieve carbon neutrality, and enterprises have proactively pursued low‐carbon technologies. In this review, the decarbonization process in the Chinese steel industry is classified into three stages according to the decarbonization amount and technological maturity: the improvements of the blast furnace‐basic oxygen furnace, the attempt of the nonblast furnace, and the preparatory electricity‐hydrogen coupling metallurgy. This article reviewed the industrial‐scale low‐carbon metallurgical technologies represented by the Baowu HyCORF process, bottom‐blowing O2‐CO2‐pulverized lime converter process, gas‐based direct reduction shaft furnace process, Molong HIsmelt process, and Ouye furnace process, as well as pointed out the development limitations of those processes. Additionally, the study presented prospects for zero‐carbon emission technologies coupling green energy generation and hydrogen metallurgy. These findings will offer substantial support for advancing research and development of low‐carbon metallurgical technologies and formulating relevant policies in the future. This article reviews China's steel industry's key technologies and future trends through three avenues: the improvements of the blast furnace‐basic oxygen furnace, the attempt of the nonblast furnace, and the preparatory electricity–hydrogen coupling metallurgy, highlighting their potential and limitations to inform low‐carbon metallurgy advances and policy‐making.