Refractories are indispensable basic materials for the development of high-temperature industries. Since the reform and opening up, China‘s refractory industry has made great progress and has become the world‘s largest producer, consumer and exporter. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently about 2,000 enterprises above designated size in the refractory industry across the country, with an annual output value of about 200 billion yuan. In 2016, the national output of refractory materials was 23,912,400 tons, of which, the output of dense shaped refractory products was 13.5852 million tons, the output of thermal insulation refractory products was 467,200 tons, and the output of amorphous products was 9,589,900 tons.

1. Analysis on the key points of green factory construction for refractory brick production enterprises

Refractories are indispensable basic materials for the development of high-temperature industries. Since the reform and opening up, China‘s refractory industry has made great progress and has become the world‘s largest producer, consumer and exporter. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently about 2,000 enterprises above designated size in the refractory industry across the country, with an annual output value of about 200 billion yuan. In 2016, the national output of refractory materials was 23,912,400 tons, of which, the output of dense shaped refractory products was 13.5852 million tons, the output of thermal insulation refractory products was 467,200 tons, and the output of amorphous products was 9,589,900 tons.


1.1 General requirements

The factory complies with the requirements of laws, regulations and policies during the construction process, and has no major safety, environmental protection and quality accidents in the past three years. For companies established less than three years ago, there must be no related accidents since the establishment of the factory. In the evaluation, the company‘s business license, environmental assessment approval, and completion acceptance documents are used to determine whether the requirements are met. At the same time, the enterprise needs to make a commitment to the environmental requirements of stakeholders, and can meet the requirements of the commitment, and can conduct self-evaluation or third-party evaluation through the pollutant test report provided by a third-party testing agency, and make corresponding commitments at the same time. In addition, the top management of the enterprise should assign the responsibilities and authorities related to the green factory, and set up a green factory management organization, set mid- and long-term planning and quantitative annual goals and implementation plans, and provide regular education and training related to the green factory to form a Issue and implement the "Green Factory Management Manual" and keep records of education and training related to green factories.

1.2 Infrastructure

Infrastructure indicators make corresponding specifications for the construction, lighting and equipment of the factory, where the factory building must comply with relevant laws and regulations for aldehydes, benzene, ammonia, radon and other harmful substances in the interior decoration materials of the factory. In accordance with the requirements of the standard, the factory has a dedicated warehouse for dangerous goods, a toxic and hazardous operation room, a waste treatment room, etc. The use of energy and resources can achieve hierarchical and classified measurement. In addition, the green factory evaluation requirements focus on energy saving and emission reduction. Therefore, enterprises are encouraged to use natural light to the greatest extent under the condition that the lighting density in production and workplaces meets the requirements of GB 50034.

In the infrastructure indicators of refractory brick enterprises, it is necessary to clarify the key points of the enterprise plant area, plant facilities, office area, living area layout, and plant environment. When constructing, rebuilding and expanding the factory buildings, comply with the national "Fixed Asset Investment Project Energy Conservation Evaluation Review System", "Three Simultaneous System", "Industrial Project Construction Land Control Index" and other industrial policies and related requirements. Whether the production and storage related factories adopt steel structure and multi-storey construction methods, and whether the raw materials used in the construction of the factory buildings are low-energy, high-performance, high-durability and local building materials. At the same time, it is necessary to increase the greening rate of the bare land in the production area. The percentage of outdoor permeable land area in the total outdoor area. Hazardous waste generated by refractory brick manufacturers, such as waste mineral oil, should be set up in a special storage place, and a qualified third party should be entrusted for regular treatment. In accordance with GB 17167 and GB 24789, the factory equips, uses, and manages measuring instruments and devices for electricity and water resources. It sets up a classification and grading measurement system for lighting systems, energy-using equipment, indoor and outdoor water use, and measures energy-consuming units. Implement regular external inspections. Consider the use of natural light-transmitting materials during the construction of factory office areas and workshops to reduce energy consumption. In the factory area, the intelligent centralized control method of area and time mode can be adopted, and energy-saving measures can be adopted such as the lighting photosensitive control sensor switch, the infrared presence switch sensor, and the infrared ultrasonic movement sensor.

1.3 Management system

At present, refractory manufacturers have generally established three systems: quality management system, environmental management system, and occupational health and safety management system. The establishment of an energy management system based on the requirements of GB/T 23331—2012 energy management system is not yet complete. Energy management As an important management method for implementing energy conservation in the creation of green factories, it is recommended that companies adopt self-establishment or third-party certification to regulate them.


The social responsibility of a company can be proved to meet the expected index requirements by issuing publicly available social responsibility reports every year. The factory or the organization to which the factory belongs shall compile a social responsibility report in accordance with the requirements of GB/T 36000-2015, ISO26000 or SA8000, and explain the fulfillment The responsibilities of stakeholders, especially the performance of environmental and social responsibilities. The social responsibility report can be compiled from the perspective of corporate culture and the company‘s responsibilities to employees, consumers, the environment, society and other stakeholders. By issuing social responsibility reports, companies can improve their social image, strengthen communication between the company and the outside world, and stimulate the company to fulfill its social responsibilities.

1.4 Energy resources input

The main energy-consuming links in the production process of shaped refractory bricks are mainly crushing, forming, drying, firing and other processes. Among them, crushers and presses mainly consume electricity, and kiln equipment such as drying kilns and tunnel kilns mainly use heavy oil or natural gas. Therefore, in terms of energy saving, enterprises should mainly consider measures such as improving crushing efficiency and electric press transformation to achieve the purpose of saving electricity; in addition, kilns that currently use heavy oil as fuel input should include natural gas and electric kiln renovations in the next step. Clean energy transformation plan.

The main raw materials used in the production of refractories include natural mineral raw materials such as magnesite, kaolin, and mullite. At present, some factories are recycling downstream refractory materials such as iron and steel metallurgy, cement rotary kiln, and other kiln body refractory materials. Solid waste is of positive significance to the future refractory industry and upstream and downstream industries to jointly create a green supply chain.

1.5 Products

Chromium-free refractories are the mainstream direction of the development of the refractory industry. Enterprises that are still producing refractory bricks with backward processes such as magnesia chrome bricks should actively consider transformation, and resolutely cancel the production of chromium-containing bricks by improving product formulations and considering alternative raw materials. Downstream refractory brick use companies eliminate the input of harmful substances such as hexavalent chromium from the source.

In product indicators, take into account product ecological design, restricted use of hazardous substances, energy saving, carbon footprint, and recyclable utilization rate, and incorporate environmental factors into product design and production, without affecting product performance and safety. Next, reduce the use of consumables and harmful substances, and increase the use rate of renewable materials. Integrate the concept of greenhouse gas emission reduction into the factory, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions during the product life cycle by carrying out product carbon footprint quantification and verification. In addition, the carbon footprint of a product can be marked in the product packaging or manual to convey the carbon attributes of the product to consumers and society.

1.6 Environmental emissions

Refractory bricks, especially refractory material manufacturers whose main products are non-burned bricks such as magnesia-carbon bricks. The main elements that need to be paid attention to in terms of environmental emissions are dust and noise, and high-alumina bricks with high-temperature firing processes. It is also necessary to pay attention to the emission of atmospheric pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides produced during the firing process. In addition, since water use was not the focus of the factory in the past, many companies have not yet done enough in the recycling, treatment and reuse of domestic and production sewage.

Greenhouse gas emissions during the production of refractories are dominated by indirect emissions such as electricity consumption. At present, some provinces have required refractory manufacturers in the province to verify and declare their greenhouse gas emissions as required. However, most companies have not yet established a complete system and plans for greenhouse gas inventory, management, and emission reduction.


1.7 Performance

The "Green Factory Evaluation Requirements" gives a detailed performance calculation method. This indicator gives specific requirements for the intensification of factory land, harmless raw materials, clean production, waste recycling, and low-carbon energy. On the premise of meeting the basic requirements, environmental performance is the main aspect of green factory evaluation, which is mainly composed of ten main indicators. Environmental performance indicators are compared around the same industry, the characteristics of the industry must be fully considered, and the evaluation scale must be grasped based on industry-related data.

2 Conclusions and recommendations

The creation of a green factory breaks the principles of the previous factory creation, focusing on the creation of factories with the characteristics of land intensification, clean production, waste recycling, low-carbon energy, etc., taking into account the factory‘s establishment of a management system and existing infrastructure conditions , The comprehensive requirements of energy and resource input, production process, products, environmental emissions and environmental performance. For refractory material manufacturers, the focus of the creation of a green factory should focus on the optimized management and layout of the infrastructure in the factory, the development of new environmentally friendly products, the use of energy cascades, the improvement and transformation of energy efficiency, energy conservation and consumption reduction, comprehensive emission reduction, etc. Only by realizing efficient recycling of resources, reducing energy consumption, material consumption and water consumption, continuously increasing the ratio of green and low-carbon energy use, carrying out a green and low-carbon transformation, and taking the road of sustainable development, can it become the benchmark for leading the development of the refractory industry.