[SMM analysis] the electrolytic manganese project passivated by dichromate will be eliminated! What is the impact on the industry?

Today, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a public announcement on the "guidance catalogue for Industrial structure Adjustment (2019 version, draft for soliciting opinions)" (click to see the relevant reports). Among them, the main guidelines related to electrolytic manganese are as follows:

Restrictions are mainly backward technology, do not meet the industry access conditions and relevant provisions, prohibit new expansion and the need to supervise the transformation of production capacity, process technology, equipment and products.

1. Medium and low carbon Ferro-manganese, electric furnace metal manganese and medium and low carbon ferrochromium refining furnace without hot charging and hot mixing process at or above 3000 KVA;

2. Electrolytic manganese leaching process with intermittent leaching and intermittent liquid delivery; enterprises with a single production line of electrolytic manganese metal (a transformer) of less than 10000 tons / year, and an enterprise with a total production scale of less than 30000 tons / year;

According to SMM, in terms of the size of the production line, in fact, the same requirements have been made for the size of the electrolytic manganese plant in the admission conditions for the ferroalloy industry issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2015 (revised in 2015). Coupled with the depression of the electrolytic manganese industry and its own overcapacity, many small enterprises have been eliminated in recent years, so the vast majority of electrolytic manganese plants have reached this standard.

In the aspect of hot charging and hot mixing process, at present, the vast majority of domestic manganese metal factories use wet smelting process, that is, the product is electrolytic manganese metal; The only large alloy factory in Shanxi that uses pyro-technology to smelt manganese has also achieved the whole process of hot charging and hot mixing.

Elimination category

The elimination category is mainly backward processes, technologies, equipment and products that do not meet the provisions of relevant laws and regulations, do not have the conditions for safe production, seriously waste resources, pollute the environment, and need to be eliminated.

32. Production equipment with an effective volume of less than 5000 cubic meters and a rectifier transformer of less than 5000 KVA and a combination tank of less than 150m3 for electrolytic manganese;

35. Plate frame and box filter press except high pressure diaphragm filter press for primary pressure filtration of electrolytic manganese metal;

36. Rectifying transformers of more than 5000 KVA, 6000 KVA and below for electrolytic manganese, and dumping tanks of more than 150m3, 170m3 and below;

40. Electrolytic manganese project using dichromate passivation technology.

According to SMM, electrolytic manganese using dichromate passivation technology can have longer storage time, so at present, a small amount of dichromate passivation is still used in some large manganese plants in China, but the proportion is very low. The main purpose of the use is to prolong the duration of the appearance luster of manganese sheet products and to meet the needs of downstream customers. As for small factories, for the southern producing areas with humid climate, the use of dichromate passivation has caused great environmental pollution, which has been strictly prohibited by the relevant departments in the early stage, and the technology of chromium-free passivation has been very mature. Therefore, the major manufacturers in the industry will not be greatly affected by the ban on dichromate passivation.

In terms of equipment, the requirements put forward in the guide catalogue for industrial structure adjustment are also not much different from the access conditions for the ferroalloy industry issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2015. At present, the vast majority of manufacturers have also met the requirements.

To sum up, the industrial structure adjustment guidance catalogue has a limited impact on the electrolytic manganese industry, and basically emphasizes the previous ferroalloy industry access standards.