In order to restrict blind industrial expansion and to facilitate industry structure upgrade, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has released the Admittance Qualification For Ferroalloy Industry (revised version 2008) and Admittance Qualification For Electromanganese Industry (revised version 2008) which will be implemented as of, March 1, 2008. According to these new regulations, with regard to ferrosilicon and silicomanganese, the capacity of submerged-arc furnaces will have to be 25000 KVA and above, while the requirements for equipment such as transformers are higher.
Electrical power consumption per unit for main ferroalloy products:
Products | Ferroalloy | Industrial silicon | Electric furnace ferromanganese | SiMn | High carbon ferrochrome |
Electrical power consumption（kWh/mt） | 8,500 | 12,000 | 2,600 | 4,200 | 3,200 |
Grades of raw materials | - | - | 38% | 34% | 40% |
As regards electromanganese, the new admittance qualification requires the designed capacity of each production line (one transformer) to reach 10,000 mt and above per year; the overall production scale of the enterprise should be 30,000 mt and above per year. With regard to energy consumption, electrolytic manganese metal should be produced in accordance with Quality Standard of Electrolytic Manganese Metal.
According to the NDRC, new developments, reconstructions and expansion projects regarding ferroalloys and electrolytic manganese metals should meet the abovementioned admittance qualifications in terms of environmental protection, energy saving, resource consumption and production safety. The government departments for finance, electricity and environmental protection are not to handle relevant procedures for projects which cannot meet the admittance qualifications.