General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Scientific and technological innovation can give birth to new industries, new models and new kinetic energy, and is the core element of the development of new quality productivity. "Promoting industrial intelligence, greening, and integration is an important measure to enhance the core competitiveness of mainland industries and promote industries to move towards the middle and high end of the global value chain. Strengthening originality and leading scientific and technological research, and promoting industrial intelligence, greening, and integration with scientific and technological innovation is conducive to accelerating the formation of new industries, new models, and new kinetic energy.
In recent years, the non-ferrous metals industry has adhered to the guidance of high-end, intelligent and green, and actively accelerated industrial transformation and upgrading. With the prominence of resource and environmental constraints and the rise of factor costs, the development challenges of non-ferrous metals, as a traditional advantageous industry, are becoming increasingly severe. Promoting industrial innovation through scientific and technological innovation is the key to breaking through bottlenecks and achieving high-quality development in the non-ferrous industry. Chai Liyuan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and vice president of Central South University, led the team to focus on the prevention and control of heavy metal pollution in the non-ferrous metal industry for decades, and developed many innovative technological achievements in non-ferrous smelting pollution control and resource utilization, such as "clean metallurgy of arsenic-containing polymetallic materials", "resource treatment of smelting waste acid", "purification and reuse of heavy metal wastewater", etc., which have contributed to the green development of the non-ferrous industry.
Chai Liyuan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and vice president of Central South University
Promote industrial upgrading with the power of science and technology
Scientific research results create a green future
After years of development, the mainland has become the world's largest producer and trading country of non-ferrous metals, and at the same time, it has also become an important force in the global heavy metal smelting industry. As mainland non-ferrous metal industry enterprises actively practice the development concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" and conform to the new situation of the "double carbon" goal, the heavy metal smelting industry such as copper, lead and zinc is also facing increasingly stringent green development requirements.
In the traditional heavy metal smelting and production process, industrial wastes such as waste water and waste acid will be generated. If not properly disposed of, waste can have an impact on the environment. In addition, there are valuable metals in waste, which has a high recycling value. The traditional waste acid treatment technology in the copper smelting industry realizes the treatment of waste acid by sulfidation and precipitation of heavy metals in waste acid and then recycles resources. This treatment process may lead to the loss of metal resources and the secondary pollution of hazardous waste, which has become a "stumbling block" that restricts the development of the industry.
Smelting polymetallic waste acid resource treatment technology engineering site.
In order to fully tap the value of non-ferrous metal resources and enhance the "green content" of the industry, Chai Liyuan led the team to tackle key problems, fight against the "stubborn disease" of heavy metal pollution, and successfully developed the "key technology for the resource treatment of smelting polymetallic waste acid" to replace the traditional smelting method, and realized the resource treatment of waste acid. In 2018, the technology won the second prize of the National Technological Invention Award.
In Chai Liyuan's view, pollutants have resource attributes, "they are not garbage, they are resources, and they are 'treasures'." The best way to solve the problem of environmental pollution is to maximize the reuse of pollutants as much as possible. Chai Liyuan took the "key technology of smelting polymetallic waste acid resource treatment" as an example, saying that the technology is the first in the world to achieve the efficient separation of polymetals in waste acid, to achieve a recovery rate of more than 96% of copper, zinc, bismuth and rhenium, and more than 90% of hazardous waste, and has also been included in the "Catalogue of Major Environmental Protection Technology and Equipment Encouraged by the State". This technology has been successfully applied in more than 10 leading smelting enterprises in mainland China, helping enterprises achieve green development, transformation and upgrading, and driving the green transformation of the smelting industry. This shows that scientific and technological innovation is of great significance to promote the high-quality and sustainable development of the non-ferrous industry.
Zhongjin Lingnan focuses on its main business and wins through innovation
Create a model of scientific and technological innovation in the industry
On March 31, Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhongjin Lingnan) 2024 Science and Technology Innovation Work Conference was held in Shenzhen, and Chai Liyuan was invited to attend the meeting. For a long time, Central South University and Zhongjin Lingnan Company have maintained close communication. During the meeting, Chai Liyuan said that the development of scientific and technological innovation must attach great importance to the major needs of the industrial chain, as well as the high degree of integration of the innovation chain and the talent chain. The industrial chain and the innovation chain must be effectively connected, combining the problems of the enterprise with the results of the laboratory, so that the scientific and technological personnel of universities and scientific research institutes can effectively communicate with the production line, so as to promote the integration of production, education, research and application. "Zhongjin Lingnan held a scientific and technological innovation conference to help enterprises and scientific and technological personnel build a face-to-face communication platform, which is one of the important measures to solve these problems. ”
Chai Liyuan affirmed the scientific and technological innovation work of Zhongjin Lingnan. He believes that Zhongjin Lingnan, as an enterprise with an important position in China's non-ferrous metal copper, lead and zinc industry, has achieved the layout of the whole industrial chain from the resource end to the smelting intermediate link and then to the material end after decades of development.
In terms of industrial layout, Zhongjin Lingnan not only has a number of mines and exploration projects in China, but also actively explores overseas resources, which has solved the bottleneck that restricts the development of enterprises in the lack of non-ferrous metal mineral resources and high dependence on foreign countries.
In terms of smelting level, Zhongjin Lingnan has made use of its own resource advantages to comprehensively lay out the copper industry chain, which has further enhanced the company's market competitiveness and industry position. Zhongjin Lingnan has China's independent intellectual property rights of the "Zhongjin Lingnan Two-stage Short-Process Copper Smelting Process", which is the world's first, integrating green, low-carbon and efficient copper smelting technology, and has a unique competitive advantage in the field of copper smelting. The "CICC two-stage short-process copper smelting process" is a technical upgrade of the 300,000 tons/year "CICC method" production line of CICC Copper. Focusing on the transformation of the diameter and layout of the multi-furnace oxygen lance, the innovation of the thermal insulation of the matte guide tube, the transformation of the multi-furnace feeding saliva sleeve, and the diameter and layout of the oxygen lance of the fire furnace, the scientific and technological innovation has been carried out, which has realized the improvement of the production capacity of the "Zhongjin method" process, reduced the energy consumption and production cost per ton of copper, and become the technological innovation representative of China's copper industry.
In terms of material development, in recent years, Zhongjin Lingnan has completed a leapfrog layout in the new material sector, and its market share and competitiveness in the metal composite material market segment have been significantly improved. This not only complements the advantages of the existing production capacity, but also lays a solid foundation for it to create a new profit growth pole. In addition, by building a new material industrial park, R&D and production of high-performance, high-quality alloy powder products, the high-end development of alloy powder has been realized. Zhongjin Lingnan continuously introduces and absorbs new technologies and processes, promotes the innovation of alloy compound technology, and lays a solid foundation for scientific and technological innovation for the development of the enterprise. These technologies have not only promoted the development of Zhongjin Lingnan itself, but also played a leading role in the non-ferrous metals industry.
Accelerate the establishment of standardization
Plug in the wings of digital intelligence for scientific and technological innovation
At present, with the integration and innovative development of "5G + Industrial Internet", big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things have gradually penetrated into all aspects of the production and operation of the non-ferrous industry, and digital mines and smart factory construction have become important development directions of the non-ferrous industry. Through the introduction of robots and automation equipment, mining, smelting and processing can be automated, improving production efficiency and reducing energy consumption. At the same time, intelligent production can also reduce production errors caused by human factors and improve the stability and efficiency of the production line.
There are many varieties of non-ferrous metals, and there are differences in 64 kinds of non-ferrous metals in mining and smelting. "There is no doubt that intelligence is a hot spot of common concern in the industry. In the process of developing intelligence, there is a long way to go to realize the standardization of technology and equipment. Chai Liyuan said, "Intelligence must be promoted by standardization. Different equipment is aimed at different technologies and processes, and it is necessary to speed up the formulation of non-ferrous intelligent standard systems. This is a very important work, which needs to be cared for and promoted by the whole industry. ”
Consolidate the foundation and rejuvenate the new, take advantage of the momentum
The prospects of the non-ferrous industry are promising
At this stage, the construction of a new development pattern is accelerating, and a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is reshaping the global economic structure, providing a broad space for the development of non-ferrous metal science and technology innovation, and at the same time, it also puts forward higher requirements for scientific and technological workers in the industry.
General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that he hopes that the majority of scientists and scientific and technological workers will shoulder their historical responsibilities, adhere to the world's frontier of science and technology, the main battlefield of the economy, the major needs of the country, and the life and health of the people, and continue to march towards the breadth and depth of science and technology. The "four aspects" show the strategic direction of scientific and technological development in the context of the "two overall situations" in mind, and draw a clear development path for the mainland's scientific and technological innovation and development. Chai Liyuan believes that scientific and technological workers in the non-ferrous metal industry must deeply understand the "four aspects" and carry out scientific research under the guidance of this.
The non-ferrous metal industry is an important basic raw material industry, with many product types, wide application fields and high industrial relevance, which plays an important role in economic and social development and national defense construction, especially as an important raw material and science and technology leading industry to support the development of strategic emerging industries such as high-end equipment manufacturing, information technology, new energy, and new materials, and has an important strategic position in promoting economic and social development. Chai Liyuan suggested that the non-ferrous industry should handle the relationship between four aspects to achieve high-quality development.
First, it is necessary to properly handle the relationship between strategy and tactics. The so-called strategy is to have a deep understanding of the development strategic positioning and development trend of the non-ferrous industry, and to clarify the problems and challenges faced. Scientific and technological innovation personnel should think about what aspects to exert their efforts; enterprises should think about from which angle to promote the transformation and upgrading of the industry; the industry should think about how to rely on a higher level of standardization to develop new quality productivity; relevant government departments should think about the formulation and guidance of relevant policies, positioning the relationship between problem orientation and demand orientation, etc. Under the guidance of a strategic perspective, the layout should be carried out with corresponding tactics.
Second, it is necessary to properly handle the relationship between the short term and the long term. In the short term, enterprises should achieve profitability and effective management, and in the long term, they should organically combine original technology with the technology they are using. If you want to become a "century-old store" and create a "golden signboard", enterprises must have the ability to tackle technical problems in a lasting way. However, in the short term, in order to ensure efficiency, enterprises must develop more advanced engineering technologies and equipment on the basis of traditional technologies, so as to promote the industry to maximize profits and maximize the efficiency of comprehensive resource recovery.
Third, it is necessary to properly handle the relationship between traditional advantageous industries and strategic emerging industries. The non-ferrous industry is a traditional advantageous industry, and while it has natural advantages, it also faces many challenges. We are now faced with the problem that there is no mine available, that it is difficult to use the mine, and that the waste mine is useless. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized the need to develop new quality productive forces. The new quality productivity is to require the traditional advantageous industries to achieve optimization and upgrading, and scientific and technological innovation is the "golden key" for the non-ferrous industry to open the door to industrial optimization and upgrading; it is necessary to solve the problems of traditional industries from the perspective of resources, promote the green development and intelligent development of traditional advantageous industries, and solve the resource problems. In addition, non-ferrous metals are an important material foundation and starting point for strategic emerging industries, and it is necessary to attach great importance to the optimization and upgrading of traditional advantageous industries and the all-round scientific layout of strategic emerging industries, so as to promote the high-quality development of the industry.
Fourth, it is necessary to properly handle the relationship between scientific and technological innovation and industrial development. At the national level, we are making every effort to promote the development of world-class enterprises and world-class universities. At the level of original innovation, the pace of building a world-class university is accelerating. The construction of a world-class enterprise also needs to be achieved by accelerating the comprehensive layout of relevant cutting-edge technologies, key core common technologies and industrialization demonstration technologies. In addition, to build a world-class university, it is necessary to start with talents, keep up with the cutting-edge technology of international science and technology, cultivate talents for the market and demand, and think and lay out in realizing the adaptation of talents to enterprises and promoting the development of enterprises and industries. The development of the non-ferrous industry urgently needs to achieve diversified integration at multiple points such as industrial chain, innovation chain, talent chain and capital chain.
Non-ferrous metals are one of the industries that the state attaches great importance to. "In the future, I believe that the development of the non-ferrous industry will be promising. The non-ferrous industry is a great industry, and the non-ferrous discipline is a great discipline. Through the coordinated development of world-class universities and world-class enterprises, great industries and great disciplines are bound to promote the high-quality development of the industry, and contribute to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. For the development prospects of the non-ferrous metals industry, Chai Liyuan is full of confidence and expectation.
[Reporter] Qiu Xiran, Li Xiaoxia
[Editor-in-charge of this article] Liu Shuqiang, Mo Qun