『Abstract
China is the largest nonferrous metals producer in the world
and largest consumer for six kinds of common nonferrous metals
including copper, aluminum, zinc, lead, nickel and tin. This paper
provides an overview of the nonferrous metals industry in China,
from a CO2 emissions reduction perspective.
It addresses energy use disaggregated by energy carrier and by
province. It focuses on an analysis of energy efficiency in the
production of aluminum, copper and nickel. A few large-scale enterprises
produce most of the aluminum , copper and nickel in China, and
use manufacturing facilities that were built within the last 20
years or have recently upgraded their main production equipment
and processes. The energy efficiency of these operations is not
particularly low compared to international practice. A large number
of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) operate nonferrous
metals production facilities which rank low in energy efficiency
and therefore are highly energy intensive per unit of physical
output. Backward production capacity would be phased out continuously
by enforcing the energy intensity norms.
Keywords: China; Nonferrous metals; Energy efficiency』
1. Introduction
1.1. Growing production and energy demand
2. Nonferrous metals industry trends in China
2.1. Rapid expansion of production output
2.2. Broad and uneven distribution of production
2.3. Large enterprises dominate productions
2.3.1. Two-third of value-added of the industry comes from large-scale
enterprises
2.4. Large enterprises retrofitted their facilities in the past
two decades
2.5. Rapid growth in electricity and coal consumption
2.6. High rates of coal use lead to high levels of carbon dioxide
(CO2) emissions
3. Processing and energy intensity
3.1. Copper production
3.2. Aluminum production
3.3. Nickel production
4. Recycling system
4.1. Copper recycling
4.2. Aluminum recycling
5. Prospects for energy-efficiency improvement
5.1. Projections of production
5.2. Equipment upgrade for efficiency improvement
5.3. Barriers to energy-efficiency improvement and increased
recycling
5.3.1. ‘Loans control’ policy
5.3.2. “Too intensive sectors” policy
5.3.3. ‘Energy-intensive product export’ policy
6. Summary and conclusions
References