Antai Waste Gas Recovery Project, China

About the Location

This project is in Shanxi Province in northern China, also known as China's coal pit, as it contains roughly one third of the country's total coal deposits. It is home to some of the most polluted cities in the world and faces grave environmental problems, which could severely impact its growing economy and the health of inhabitants. Air pollution levels are particularly concerning, and rivers are also heavily contaminated with wastewater from the surrounding industry.

The Solution

Waste gas from the blast furnaces and coke ovens at the Antai steel mill is captured and used to generate electricity, which is then recycled for the plant’s use. The project improves local air quality by avoiding uncontrolled gas emissions whilst the installation of a modernised water-cooling system considerably reduces the water consumption of the plant by 60-70%.

The Impact

The project mitigates on average 262,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases every year by capturing the waste gas and reusing it for renewable energy, promoting China’s renewable energy industry. The climate impact reduction of this project would be equivalent to removing 89,613 average Australian cars from the road for one year*.

More than 150 new jobs for the local community have been created in plant operations, with all employees receiving technical training and wages above Chinese standards. The project benefits also extend to local communities, with programs offering financial support for older residents and university scholarships for students.

*Based on an average Australian petrol passenger car that uses 11.1L/100km and travels 11,067km year (abs.gov.au 2020) and Petrol EF of 2.38 kgCO2e/L (industry.gov.au 2021), we calculate emission generated at 0.26418 kgCO2e/km travelled and 2,923.68 kgCO2e per car/per year.