Local govt releases details of cuts in Fengrun, Qian'an

SHANGHAI, Jul 17 (SMM) – Local governments released details of production cuts for steel mills in Fengrun district and Qian'an city of Tangshan, Hebei province as of Tuesday July 17. Other districts will release details of their cuts no later than July 20. 

To fight air pollution, the Tangshan municipal government last week announced a fresh round of production cuts from July 20 to August 31.

Tangshan's annual pig iron capacity of 139.59 million mt accounts for 10.6% of China's total output, SMM data showed. Pig iron capacity in Fengrun stood at 5.78 million mt per year, and that in Qian'an at an annual 38.07 million mt. 

In Fengrun district, the atmospheric concentration of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide has to be reduced by half, from the average levels in the first half of 2018. This will mean a limit of 23 mcg/m³ for sulphur dioxide and 44 mcg/m³ for nitrogen dioxide in August. Carbon monoxide emissions will be lowered by 40%, to 2.24 mcg/m3 next month. 

At Tangshan Xinbaotai Iron & Steel and Hebei Tianzhu Iron & Steel, capacity will be halved across blast furnaces, sintering machines, and shaft furnaces. 

At Xinbaotai, the #2 blast furnace of 630 m³ , #2 and #3 sintering machines, and #1 shaft furnace of 10 m³ are required to follow the cut. At Tianzhu, output at the #2 blast furnace of 630 m³, #2 and #3 sintering machines and #2 shaft furnace will be halved.

All lime kilns at the two mills will be suspended. 

In the district, sintering machines will be suspended for 24 hours if its carbon monoxide emissions exceeded 6,000 mg/m³. If it exceeds this limit several times in a day, the number of hours of suspension hour will be raised accordingly. 

Datang International Thermo Electron will cut production by 50%. All cement plants, except for two production lines in Jidong Cement Plant used for sludge treatment, shall be suspended. 

Other restrictions in Fengrun include the suspension of all porcelain plants that utilise gas burning kilns, rolling and casting mills, plants with independent lime kilns, shale brick factories, as well as stone crushing plants. 

Manufacturers should suspend production that emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This excludes CRRC Tangshan, which was required to meet local emission standards. 

In Qian'an, a city next to Fengrun district, plants that complete at least 30% of its desulphurisation and denitrification process shall cut production by 30% across their sintering machines and furnaces. Plants that complete less than 30% will cut production by half. Facilities that complete the environmentally-friendly process, such as the #5 sintering machine at Yanshan Iron & Steel, will be allowed to operate normally. The remaining copper and steel plants in Qianan face a 50% production cut, SMM learned. 

Blast furnaces at Yanshan Iron & Steel and Shougang Qian'an Iron & Steel, which transport raw materials by railway, will cut production by 20%. Songting Iron & Steel and Jiujiang Steel will face a 25% cut, while Xinda Iron and Steel, Rongxin Iron and Steel face cuts of 30%.

Land transport in the area shall be cut by 30%, SMM learned.