Recently, the No. 7 Air Compressor Station of the Department of Energy of Beijing Shougang Co., Ltd. ("Shougang") was officially listed as a "First-class Energy Efficiency Compressed Air Station" by the China General Machinery Industry Association, becoming the first air compressor station in the steel industry in China to meet the first-class energy efficiency standard.

The No. 7 Air Compressor Station is a supporting construction project for Shougang's electrical steel for new energy automobiles. At the beginning of the project, in accordance with the "green, energy-saving, low-carbon and sustainable" development concept, Shougang committed itself to building the industry-leading low-energy air compressor station. The equipment selection was rigorous and scientific, involving multi-party investigation and research, and in-depth technical exchanges with many industry-leading air compressor manufacturers. The volume, pressure difference, efficiency and other factors of the dryer were comprehensively considered in combination with the energy-saving rotary drum compression heat dryer so as to achieve true zero gas consumption. In terms of optimizing the process, the layout scheme and pipeline route were optimized during the design and construction, and the original single pipe of one air compressor was changed to the piping-main scheme of one dryer. The advantage of the piping-main scheme is that the pressure of multiple units in the pipe network can be balanced; when the wind pressure is high, multiple units are not fully loaded and there is no ventilation, enabling the air to be supplied in the most economical way. The Department of Energy formed a special project team to implement responsibilities and check every detail throughout project research, establishment, design, construction and commissioning, ultimately creating the first air compressor station in the steel industry in China to meet the first-class energy efficiency standard.

Since the No. 7 Air Compressor Station was put into operation, breakthroughs have been made in the original compressed air balance of Shougang's air supply network. The Department of Energy organized professionals to constantly adjust, measure, calculate and analyze, and re-determine the pressure set-point and adjustment, thereby ensuring the long-term full-load operation of the station and giving full play to the highest performance of the equipment. The power consumption of the air compressor per 1,000 m3 of wind is reduced by 0.81 kWh, saving 1.43 million kWh of electricity and RMB 710,000 in electricity charges throughout the year; what’s more, the Department of Energy paid close attention to lean management, sorted out the operation process of the No. 7 Air Compressor Station, formulated new post regulations and guided the relevant personnel to dynamically adjust the operation mode of the dryers in accordance with air humidity and dew point so as to save every drop of water and every kWh of electricity. Appraised by a third-party testing organization, the actual output efficiency of the air compressor reached 58% and exceeded the standard line of 55% of first-class energy efficiency, making the No. 7 Air Compressor Station reach the meet the first-class energy efficiency standard.