The steel industry is a major water consumer, and with the continuous strengthening of energy conservation and emission reduction work by the country, the steel industry is facing an urgent task of water conservation. On December 10th, the "Second Iron and Steel Industry Full Process Water saving Technology Exchange Conference and 2024 National Steel Standards Committee metallurgical Water saving Standard Working Group Annual Meeting" with the theme of "Digging into the Water saving Potential of the Industry and Promoting the Renewal of Water saving Equipment" was held, aiming to achieve efficient utilization and sustainable development of water resources by deeply exploring the water-saving potential of the steel industry and accelerating the updating and iteration of water-saving equipment. Peng Yongzhen, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor at Beijing Institute of Technology, believes that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, various parts of the country have deeply implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping's water management strategy of "water conservation priority, spatial balance, systematic governance, and dual pronged efforts", comprehensively promoted water disaster prevention and control, water resource conservation, water ecological protection and restoration, and water environment governance, and comprehensively enhanced water security capabilities. At present, China's water-saving industry has begun to take shape, covering agricultural water-saving irrigation, industrial wastewater treatment, domestic water-saving appliances, sewage recycling, pipe network leakage control, smart water-saving and other fields. It has basically formed a full industry chain from research and development design, product equipment manufacturing to engineering construction and service management, "said Peng Yongzhen.

Industrial water consumption accounts for about 16% of the total water consumption in the country, and the steel industry is a key water consuming industry in the industrial sector. Li Suqin, a professor at Beijing University of Science and Technology and the leader of the metallurgical Water Conservation Standards Working Group of the National Steel Standards Committee, stated that the steel industry can achieve intensive control of water use throughout its entire lifecycle through source control, process control, participation in social circulation, and ecological governance. In recent years, the steel industry has attached great importance to water conservation work, and has widely carried out a series of advanced and mature water-saving technology applications and equipment and facility renovations throughout the industry. Key water consumption indicators such as water intake per ton of steel and water reuse rate have continued to improve, which is of great significance for promoting the efficient utilization of water resources in the steel industry. Ma Chaoyu, member of the Party Committee and Deputy General Manager of Beijing MCC Equipment Research and Design Institute Co., Ltd., introduced that in recent years, Beijing MCC Equipment Research and Design Institute Co., Ltd. has achieved significant results in water conservation through the application of a series of advanced water-saving technology and the continuous improvement of management level. The industry's new water consumption per ton of steel has continued to decrease, and water efficiency has reached the international advanced level.

Zhang Lan, Secretary of the National Water Conservation Standardization Technical Committee and the Beijing Water Conservation Standardization Technical Committee, analyzed that China's water conservation standard system starts from all fields such as industry, agriculture, and urban areas, as well as the entire process of water intake, supply, use, and drainage. It also covers the entire sequence of basic universality, water quantity equivalence, water quality equivalence, and value equivalence, providing comprehensive guidance for the development of water conservation standardization work. The Chief Engineer of the Water Science and Technology Quality Management Department of MCC Jingcheng Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. believes that water conservation in the steel industry is a systematic project, and the next step should be to strengthen standard water conservation, improve water use quotas and water quality indicators, open up sources and reduce consumption, and encourage the development of unconventional water resources. However, the level of water resource utilization and management varies among steel enterprises, and the efficiency of the circulating water system still needs to be improved. There are still shortcomings in the deep treatment and resource utilization of typical wastewater.

In fact, with the continuous upgrading and optimization of steel product types and the promotion of green and low-carbon work in the industry, higher requirements have been put forward for the utilization of water resources. To achieve sustainable development, steel enterprises must deeply tap into water-saving potential, continuously strengthen research and investment in efficient utilization of water resources, and vigorously promote advanced and applicable water-saving technologies and equipment. Wei Jingjing, Director of the Ecological Environment Department of the Energy and Environmental Protection Department of Baosteel Zhanjiang Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., stated that the improvement of water efficiency, intelligent control, and zero emission technology in long process steel plants have been developed through system optimization and the use of a full system analysis of "extraction, production, supply, use, and return" to formulate water-saving measures; By integrating the three rings, operating costs can be reduced, and the amount of new water intake and wastewater generated can be minimized; Through flexible balancing, break the hard connection between wastewater generation and wastewater treatment system, and establish a flexible connection; Through intelligent control, the entire factory system is centrally managed, and a smart control platform for the entire water system process is established.