Qinghai Aluminium Transform From a Traditional Industry to a Modern Industry

Since 2012, in the complex and volatile economic environment, our province’s industrial economy has been under increasing downward pressure, with the price of products like aluminium and silicon iron continuously dropping. Objectively speaking, this is caused by various factors including the continued market downturn and sluggish sales. However,in-depth analysis shows that the key reasons are serious industrial structural problems, short industrial chain, low product correlation and low core competitiveness of enterprises.

Take aluminium for example. Our province is one of the major production bases of aluminium in the country. Since the 11th fiveyear plan period, after phasing out outdated production capacity and introducing technological upgrade, the enterprise main equipment, comprehensive power consumption and enterprise average profit of our province’s aluminium industry are all leading in the country. However, the industrial structure of our province’s aluminium industry is still short and not refined enough, consuming 48% of the province’s total industrial consumption but creating only 12%of its industrial added-value.It is imperative that more efforts be made to adjust the structure of the aluminium industry and to transform the traditional industry at the upstream of the industrial chain to a high valueadding industry at the downstream.

Some people say there is only backward technology, no backward industry. Aluminium is our prince’s traditional advantageous industry, but with the advent of new situation like power shortage and increased price of raw materials, the industry must constantly reduce energy consumption and production cost through technological renovation.

In 2003, Qinghai Qiaotou Aluminum & Power Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Qiaotou Aluminum & Power) which had the then largest and most advanced electrolytic tank in our province was completed and put into operation. It adopted the model of “aluminum and power joint operation”, producing 300,000 tons of aluminium annually. Ten years later,bigger and more energy-saving electrolytic tanks are introduced,and Qiaotou Aluminum&Power urgently needs to go through technical upgrade for continuously production cost reduction while meeting the binding targets of energy conservation and emission reduction.

Since 2008, Qiaotou Aluminum & Power has been actively introducing new processes and new materials and executing a series of technical renovation projects such as the electrolytic tank high conductivity cathode steel bar technology project, the converter transformation project for blower and induced draft fan, the electrolytic tank low voltage project, and the electrolytic tank gas calcinations technology project, achieving increasingly remarkable energy conservation.

By transforming the converters of 20 blower and induced draft fans, 20.50 million kwh of electricity is saved each year, equivalent to RMB6.85 million; the electrolytic tank low voltage project saves 669 kwh of electricity for every ton of aluminium. At the same time, fly ash produced during power generation is utilized to produce 55,000 cubic meters of insulating bricks. Zhao Maosheng, the general manager of Qiaotou Aluminum & Power, said with deep feeling, “since 2008, the company has invested more than RMB1 billion in energy conservation. As far as Qiaotou Aluminum &Power is concerned, energy conservation and emission reduction is not just a call from the government, but our own essential requirement for cost reduction, efficiency improvement and obtaining room for development.”

It is learned that last year our province already issued Several Policy Measures on Further Controlling the Disorderly Development and Overheated Growth of High Energy-consuming Industries, adopting supporting measures like punitive tariff to control the construction of high load projects, and incorporating energy conservation evaluation responsibility into the performance target system of various regions and provincial enterprises. This year, our province will no longer approve new high energy load projects such as those of aluminium, cement and iron alloy, and will strongly promote the popularization of energysaving, consumption reduction, clean production and comprehensive utilization technologies including the utilization of residual heat and voltage, and flue gas ash removal so as to effectively reduce the consumption of energy resources and the emission of industrial pollutants, and to vigorously facilitate the construction of “two types”of enterprises.

According to the overall requirements of the technological renovation of our province’s aluminium industry, the electrolytic tank energy-saving renovation of various aluminium manufacturers in the province is being accelerated. The advanced technological renovation in energy conservation and emission reduction aims to enable key technological indicators like energy consumption and material consumption of electrolytic enterprises to reach the advanced level of the country.

Multiple aluminium companies under Qinghai Provincial Investment (Group) Co., Ltd., a provincial enterprise, have formed an industrial chain incorporating coal-power-aluminumaluminum processing, and hydropower resources development-aluminum base alloyaluminum deep processing. Starting from this year, the state has promulgated relevant policies to alleviate excess production capacity and accelerate industrial structural adjustment,and the company has also been speeding up technological innovation and new product development, and based on the existing aluminium production capacity, actively facilitating the product transformation to the downstream of the industrial chain in a bid to connect the upstream with the downstream,increase product added-value, and realize the overall value of the industrial chain in the end products.

For this reason, the Provincial Investment Group has formed a research and development team under the technical leadership of two(PhD) experts, and the supporting technical research and development center and the science and technology department. Special fund has also been set up to support the development of tank materials. Currently, the plan for the test, process quality, flat ingot technical standards, and cold-rolling and hotrolling process of the 3104 tank material has been formulated, key equipment and materials are in place, and commission is being expedited. In addition, based on the renovation and utilization of the existing equipment of Guoxin Aluminum Company, the Provincial Investment Group will start to conduct trial production of big size ultra-hard aluminum alloy round ingot.

According to the statistics of the Provincial Economic Commission, the extended industrial chain deep processing projects currently implemented by five aluminium enterprises including the Provincial Investment Group are expected to add new aluminum processing capacity of 910,000 tons. Meanwhile, existing aluminum processing enterprises are supported to gradually increase the aluminum processing capacity through releasing their own capacity,expanding capacity by means of technical renovation and building new aluminum processing projects. According to the plan, it is expected that by the end of the 12th five-year period, our province’s aluminium production capacity will realize 80%local conversion.

At present, the industrialization test of low volume fraction aluminum matrix composites conducted jointly by Qinghai Yellow River Hydropower Recycled Aluminum Co.,Ltd.and Qinghai University has been granted a license of “high performance light metal alloy and deep-processing national and local joint engineering research center Qinghai Yellow River Hydropower Recycled Aluminum Co.,Ltd. sub-center” by the National Development and Reform Commission. The special aluminum alloy rods and bars project with an annual capacity of 50,000 tons being built by Qinghai Materials Industry Group plans to adopt aluminium liquid direct charging technology to produce special aluminum alloy bars and rods,slab ingots and multi-serial alloy electrical round rods.

As our province’s traditional advantageous industry, the speed of transformation and upgrade of the aluminium industry has a bearing on its future development. As a leader of the Provincial Investment Group said: it is imperative to implement the structural adjustment and upgrade of the aluminium industry, which cannot wait and cannot be slow. Only then can the loss-making and singular industrial structure of the traditional aluminium industry caused by excess capacity and sluggish market be alleviated,the industrial chain be further optimized, and the overall core competitiveness be improved.