Shanxi Province accelerates the development of aluminum and magnesium deep processing industry chain

Gather new momentum and build new advantages

Shanxi Yinguang Huasheng Magnesium Industry has five magnesium alloy extrusion production lines, which mainly produce extruded tubes, belts, wires and other special-shaped materials as well as magnesium alloy leisure beds, magnetic cars and other end products. Photo by Shanxi Daily reporter Wang Li

On March 25, in the interactive display area of the Hangyu New Materials Intelligent Manufacturing Center in Xingxian Aluminum-Magnesium New Materials Industrial Park, Luliang City, the staff inserted the memory card into the 3D printer, pressed the switch, and an aluminum-magnesium alloy part gradually formed.

The aluminum-magnesium alloy parts and components 3D printed here are widely used in high-end fields such as aerospace and driverless cars. This is a vivid portrayal of the transformation of our province's aluminum-magnesium industry into deep processing technology.

As the dominant industry of our province, the aluminum and magnesium industry has initially formed "bauxite-alumina-aluminum deep processing", "bauxite-fine alumina", "dolomite for magnesium smelting-raw magnesium-" after more than 30 years of development. Magnesium alloy - magnesium and magnesium alloy deep processing" three major industrial chains, especially since the province implemented the "chain length" working mechanism last year, relying on Chinalco Shanxi New Materials Co., Ltd., Shanxi Chinalco China Resources Co., Ltd., Shanxi Yinguang Huasheng Magnesium Co., Ltd. The three "chain master" companies of the company will increase technological innovation, strengthen market connection, expand investment promotion, extend the industrial chain, promote industrial integration, and accelerate the industrial chain parkization, agglomeration, recycling, terminalization, branding, and greening development.

Extend the chain to increase total volume and continue to grow industrial clusters

"This is the luggage rack in the high-speed rail carriage. As the standard equipment of the Harmony EMU, most of these are produced by our company." As one of the first "chain owner" companies recognized by our province, Yinguang Magnesium Industry has 34 Years of experience in the production of raw magnesium, and has been engaged in the research and development and production of magnesium deep-processing products since 2005. After nearly 20 years of persistent exploration and practice, it has various deep-processing technologies such as casting, rolling, pressing, forging, and extrusion, and all Realizing industrialized production, we have successfully created four high-end product series including automobiles, rail transit, 3C electronic communications, and military aerospace, and have made breakthroughs in our province’s industrialized technologies such as high-end precision deep processing, intelligent manufacturing, and comprehensive utilization of resources.

Wenxi, where Yinguang Magnesium Industry is located, is known as the "Magnesium City". It has dolomite reserves of 1 billion tons. It has the top ten magnesium alloy companies in the country such as Yinguang, Ruige, and Bada. It has dolomite-raw magnesium smelting-magnesium Jixin Materials - a complete industrial chain of intensive processing and deoxidizer and reduction tank production, accounting for one-third of the country's production capacity.

Xie Gengsheng, the head of Wenxi County, said that while promoting the construction of self-owned projects of "chain master" enterprises, we will further improve the industrial cluster investment map, conduct in-depth analysis and judgment, and explore upstream and downstream enterprises through business-based investment, site-based investment, and entrusted investment. Through other methods, we will actively introduce a number of leading industry projects for aluminum and magnesium deep processing to start construction, and continue to strengthen the entire chain industry.

In June last year, the Shanxi Province Aluminum and Magnesium Deep Processing Industry Chain Promotion Conference was held in Wenxi. Our province compiled a special work manual, introduced the 2022 aluminum and magnesium deep processing industry chain work plan and collected and compiled the aluminum and magnesium deep processing industry chain. "Ten Accounts" has established a leading group for the magnesium deep processing industry chain, formulated a closed-loop management mechanism and a comprehensive service mechanism, clarified the "Five Ones" work task list, and strived to build a tens-billion-level magnesium metal industry cluster.

In our province, Chinalco Shanxi New Materials Co., Ltd., which also has mining resources and has a long history of development, is the first complete aluminum industry in our province that has "mines-alumina-electrolytic aluminum-aluminum processing" and is equipped with its own generating sets. It is a large-scale enterprise in the chain that develops and mass-produces more than 20 new materials in the fields of transportation, electronics and other fields. Among them, car chassis forging materials, 5G mobile phone materials, and track materials run parallel to each other. At the same time, it radiates to more than 20 companies in Hejin Aluminum Industrial Park. , forming an aluminum deep processing industry cluster and driving high-quality local economic and social development.

Chairman Guo Weili said that as a "chain owner" enterprise, we must make full use of internal and external resources, give full play to comparative advantages, integrate various resources and elements, enhance our core cohesion, actively supplement and extend the chain and strengthen the chain, and target major key technologies , core technologies, guide them to concentrate resources and elements to tackle key problems, and drive the industrial chain to achieve value upgrading and transformation driven by core technologies.

Make up for weak links in the chain and integrate the upstream and downstream industries

"Manager Huang, please give me more aluminum water today!" On March 24, when a reporter was interviewing in the Xingxian Economic Development Zone, the phone of Huang Qiao, manager of the production department of China Aluminum Corporation of Shanxi Province, rang. "I have to receive several calls like this every day. This is a happy trouble!" Chinalco and China Resources produce 500,000 tons of aluminum water annually. However, as the number of companies in the development zone continues to increase, these aluminum water can no longer "quench their thirst."

As the first link in the aluminum industry chain, Shanxi Huaxing has formed a production capacity of 1.8 million tons of metallurgical grade alumina. "The more uniform the particle size, the higher the purity of the alumina powder." The staff took out several bottles of alumina powder samples, and the product quality can be judged by the appearance.

To build an aluminum recycling industry base, Shanxi Huaxing alone is not enough. As the second link in the Xingxian aluminum industry chain, Shanxi Chalco China Resources’ main task is to process alumina powder produced by Shanxi Huaxing into aluminum ingots. The production process of aluminum ingots can be clearly seen on the large screen in the main control room: alumina powder undergoes an electrolytic reaction in the electrolytic tank to form aluminum water, which enters the mixing furnace of the casting workshop through a vacuum lift truck. After slag removal and mold expansion, the silver The molten aluminum eventually forms a shiny aluminum ingot.

Based on its resource advantages and the commissioning of the electrolytic aluminum project, Xingxian County has put forward the goal of "keeping aluminum water out of the ground and aluminum ingots out of the county." To this end, preferential investment policies that are good for enterprises have been continuously introduced, and logistics support has been continuously improved, gradually attracting a number of aluminum deep processing companies to settle in the Xingxian Aluminum Magnesium New Materials Industrial Park. Yuantai High Conductivity Materials (Shanxi) Co., Ltd. is one of them.

In the No. 3 standardized factory building in the park, as the machine rotates, a huge aluminum liquid bag like a teapot is lifted up in the air. The fiery red aluminum liquid spurts out from the spout, slowly pours into the melting and casting furnace, and is transformed into a shimmering silver color on the spot. Glossy aluminum rod…

"Xing County has the best quality alumina in the country. Only good alumina can produce high-quality aluminum alloys. This is the biggest reason why we came here from Suzhou to build a factory." Yuantai High Conductivity Materials (Shanxi) Co., Ltd. Chief Engineer Jiang Bin said.

When talking about the comparison with the Suzhou factory, Jiang Bin talked endlessly. “In Suzhou, it takes more than four hours to heat the purchased aluminum ingots to melt them into molten aluminum. Yuantai is backed by Chinalco and China Resources. The raw materials are easy to obtain and of high quality. You can also directly purchase molten aluminum from Shanxi Chinalco and China Resources. Comparing the two, Yuantai’s benefits have doubled and its costs have been reduced by about 60%.”

In Xingxian Aluminum and Magnesium New Materials Industrial Park, there is more than one terminal industry. At present, aluminum-based new materials have formed 7 series and 43 kinds of alloy materials, including Yuantai high-conductivity new materials, Yihe Aluminum aluminum alloy rod extended aluminum alloy wire project, Zhengan Aluminum advanced casting aluminum alloy casting project, Shuofeng Aluminum The industrial electric power fittings project, the metal crop project and the Aerospace 3D metal printing project have been completed and put into production. In particular, the 700MPa ultra-high-strength aluminum alloy casting rod production and preparation technology of Yuantai High Conductivity Materials (Shanxi) Research Institute has solved the problem of excessive domestic high-end aluminum materials. The problem of dependence on imported materials; lithium carbonate and carbon nanomaterials, aviation high-end aluminum precision materials, and the Aluminum Master plate, strip and foil project are under construction, and the Zhongrun Phase II 500,000-ton electrolytic aluminum and supporting projects are also accelerating...

The produced chain rolls at full speed, relying on the rotation of each gear.

Less than 1 kilometer away from Chinalco New Materials Co., Ltd. in Hejin is Juhua New Materials Co., Ltd. Chinalco New Materials has given great support from site selection, application, plant construction, and commissioning, which is both a "complete success" for Juhua New Materials. ” is also an “unexpected encounter” between the two companies in the aluminum deep processing market.

As a downstream fine alumina deep processing enterprise of alumina, the raw material alumina used by Juhua New Materials is supplied by Chinalco Shanxi Company, which greatly saves the product transportation costs of Juhua New Materials, improves production efficiency, and also forces Chinalco Shanxi Branch to The company's alumina technology continues to improve, and its products are at the forefront of the market.

Last year, Juhua New Materials’ annual production capacity reached 20,000 tons, and its annual output value exceeded 200 million yuan. It has won many honors such as national-level specialized and new “little giant” enterprise, high-tech enterprise, and Shanxi Enterprise Technology Center. Since the implementation of the "chain length" system for the aluminum and magnesium deep processing industry chain, a situation of integrated development of large, medium and small enterprises is accelerating in Hejin City.

Wang Yun, mayor of Hejin City, said that the next step will be to reserve and support a group of specialized new small and medium-sized enterprises and individual champion enterprises that can accurately "get into the chain", support small and medium-sized enterprises to cooperate with industry leading enterprises to overcome problems, and accelerate the construction of The industrial ecosystem in which large, medium and small enterprises are interdependent and mutually reinforcing strongly supports the replenishment and stability of the industrial chain and supply chain.

Strengthen the chain and focus on innovation to promote high-quality development of the industry

An ordinary magnesium ingot weighing one ton is worth more than 20,000 yuan. It is extruded by a 10,000-ton extruder and transferred to an imported processing center to generate standardized magnesium plates. Then, they are welded by a welding robot, and the magnesium plates are spliced into car body modules, and then transported to the locomotive workshop for further processing.

Finally, this magnesium ingot is transformed into a magnesium alloy profile for the rail transit car body structure, becoming part of high-speed trains, subways, and cars running around the world, and its value can exceed 60,000 yuan.

From low-end primary raw materials to high value-added products, the gorgeous transformation of this ordinary magnesium ingot comes from "Yinguang Magnesium Intelligent Manufacturing". The transformation of this magnesium ingot is not easy, and "turning magnesium into gold" relies on solid innovation.

"No company can survive for 100 years by selling raw materials." Ren Longtai, chairman of Yinguang Magnesium Industry, took the lead in implementing industrial transformation in the industry and embarked on the road of deep processing of magnesium alloys.

In 2005, the magnesium material deep processing technology park invested and constructed by Yinguang Magnesium Industry was completed and put into operation. The country's first magnesium alloy continuous casting and rolling production line, the country's first magnesium alloy complex casting component production line... a series of "firsts" mark the company's beginning to pioneer new application scenarios.

"Just last year, a team of academicians from Chongqing University came to the company to guide us in making further breakthroughs in the research and development of magnesium battery technology." said Zhao Chunbo, director of the project department of Yinguang Magnesium Industry.

By the end of 2022, Yinguang Magnesium Industry has formed an annual production capacity of 65,000 tons of raw magnesium, 30,000 tons of magnesium alloys, and 30,000 tons of magnesium deep-processed products. It has the only national-level enterprise technology center in China's magnesium industry and a national-level key process technology for magnesium alloys. Joint Engineering Research Center, seven deep processing production lines representing the development direction of China's magnesium industry have all achieved industrial production (including the entire industry chain of die-casting, extrusion, forging, rolling plate, casting, etc.), and have formed a complete range of magnesium deep processing with complete technology System, it has become a deep processing enterprise with a large scale and a wide range of varieties in the national magnesium industry, and has played a leading role in the transformation and upgrading of the province and even the country's magnesium industry.

"As a 'chain owner' enterprise, we will focus on strengthening our technological innovation capabilities in magnesium alloy die-casting, extrusion, rods, plates, etc. in the future, accelerate the development of high-performance, low-cost magnesium alloy and deep processing technology and products, and achieve major key goals. Make breakthroughs in common technologies, establish a complete industrialization system, and promote the sustainable and healthy development of the magnesium industry while becoming bigger and stronger," said Ren Longtai.

Develop a batch of products, invest in a batch, and reserve a batch. Technological innovation allows "chain owner" companies to maintain their position as industry pioneers.

Fine alumina is the main material for halogen-free flame retardant materials, catalyst carriers, ceramics, artificial marble, etc. It is widely used in advanced material manufacturing, new energy, environmental protection and other fields. It is one of the key new materials being developed in the world. Through technological upgrading, Chinalco Shanxi New Materials takes advantage of the sintering process to increase the proportion of fine alumina to meet the requirements of high whiteness, low sodium, and high purity. It actively improves processes and processes, and cultivates and expands the fine alumina industry.

Red mud is a very fine, strong alkaline solid waste produced during the production of alumina. Every ton of alumina produced produces 0.8-1.5 tons of red mud. The treatment of red mud is a major problem worldwide and has become a major problem in the development of the alumina industry. bottleneck.

Last year, in actively promoting the comprehensive utilization of resources, Chinalco New Materials strengthened external technical exchanges and cooperation, and jointly established a provincial-level red mud comprehensive utilization R&D center with the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, Hejin Economic and Technological Development Zone, and the University of Science and Technology Beijing to develop red mud Comprehensive use of new technologies and new products, the scientific and technological achievements of "red mud fly ash based geopolymer technology development" were independently developed, which passed the expert evaluation of Shanxi Nonferrous Metals Industry Association and were evaluated by experts as filling the gap in the province and reaching the domestic leading level. ; Developed two products, including "Red Mud - Coal Grindstone Sintered Bricks" and "Red Mud - Sintered Antique Gray Pottery Bricks", and achieved industrial application. This year, it is estimated that 300,000 tons of red mud will be used, with a utilization rate of 15%. The utilization rate will reach more than 60% in 2025. Valuable components such as iron, alkali, alumina, rare scattered metals and rare precious metals will be recovered from the red mud to increase mineral production. Resource utilization efficiency, promote solid waste reduction, resource utilization, and high-value utilization, and achieve sustainable development of enterprises.

Since the implementation of the "chain leader system", our province has focused on promoting the high-quality development of the aluminum and magnesium deep processing industry chain. "Chain master" companies have built core advantages through in-depth docking with the market, strengthened technological innovation, and carried out in-depth digitalization, intelligence and greening. Transform, carry out industry-university-research collaborative research around key core technologies, strive to be the "leader" in corporate standards, gradually gain voice and leadership in the industrial chain in market competition, and lead the way through market sharing, division of labor, collaboration, and technology diffusion. Small and medium-sized enterprises integrate into the industrial chain division of labor system, jointly build an industrial ecology, and achieve coordinated development and win-win cooperation.

Editor: Ma Yunyun

Reviewer: Ma Ming