Status-Quo Of EAF Steelmaking In China

　　There are essentially two types of steelmaking process, converter-targeted long-flow process for steelmaking and EAF-targeted compact-route process. With the development of green, environmental, sustainable and circular economy, green manufacturing in steel production has gained more and more attention. EAF steelmaking is an important green way of smelting in modern day.  Major steel-producing countries in the world mostly give precedence to EAF steelmaking, and EAF steel production largely is higher than that of converter steel production in these countries. In the United States and India, EAF steel production has reached over 60% of the total steel production. Compared with many other countries, the percentage of EAF steel produced is around 10% of the total in China, which lags far behind the average level of 29.3% of the world.

　　The situation is as follows:

　　(1) The mix of furnace charge is changing, with rising percentage of molten iron added and prominent trend of the use of EAF-converter.

　　(2) The operation ratio of electric furnaces falls continually, which is down around 10% at large steelworks and around 26% at small and medium-sized steel mills compared to previous years. Amid the sluggishness over recent two years, some steel mills always put a halt to production, with electric furnaces only operating half the time.

　　(3) The proportion of EAF steel production keeps falling

　　Data from recent years show the percentage of EAF steel is broadly on a downward trend in China, which has dropped to 10.1% from the peak level of 23.2%. Meanwhile, the figure is on the rise in countries around the world contrasted to the current situation in China.

　　(4) In spite of improvement, the level of EAF equipment in China still lags behind the world level.