The steel industry is a major source of CO₂ emissions, and thus, the mitigation of carbon emissions is the most pressing challenge in this sector. In this paper, international environmental governance in the steel industry is reviewed, and the current state of development of low‐carbon technologies is discussed. Additionally, low‐carbon pathways for the steel industry at the current time are proposed, emphasizing prevention and treatment strategies. Furthermore, the prospects of low‐carbon technologies are explored from the perspective of transitioning the energy structure to a “carbon–electricity–hydrogen” relationship. Overall, steel enterprises should adopt hydrogen‐rich metallurgical technologies that are compatible with current needs and process flows in the short term, based on the carbon substitution with hydrogen (prevention) and the CCU (CO₂ capture and utilization) concepts (treatment). Additionally, the capture and utilization of CO₂ for steelmaking, which can assist in achieving short‐term emission reduction targets but is not a long‐term solution, is discussed. In conclusion, in the long term, the carbon metallurgical process should be gradually supplanted by a hydrogen–electric synergistic approach, thus transforming the energy structure of existing steelmaking processes and attaining near‐zero carbon emission steelmaking technology.

This review focuses on the energy structure of iron and steel production and a feasible development path for carbon reduction. The process path and feasible development direction of carbon emission reduction in the iron and steel industry have been analyzed from the perspective of the carbon–electricity–hydrogen ternary relationship. Frontier technologies such as “hydrogen replacing carbon” are being developed worldwide. Combining the high efficiency of microwave electric-thermal conversion with the high efficiency and pollution-free advantages of hydrogen-reducing agents may drive future developments. In this review, a process path for “microwave + hydrogen” synergistic metallurgy is proposed. The reduction of magnetite powder by H₂ (CO) in a microwave field versus in a conventional field is compared. The driving effect of the microwave field is found to be significant, and the synergistic reduction effect of microwaves with H₂ is far greater than that of CO.

Directional solidification experiments were carried out on peritectic steels to investigate the microstructure and volume shrinkage. A δ-dendritic structure developed intermittently and was enclosed by γ-austenite at growth rates of 15, 50, and 80 μm s⁻¹. The primary dendritic spacing narrowed and the average spacing of dendrites decreased as the growth velocity increased. The functional relationship between the secondary dendrite arm spacing and cooling rates was established by statistical analysis. The influence of cooling rate on crack formation was analysed as a function of volume shrinkage. Reducing the cooling rate of the solidification delayed a massive type of peritectic transformation away from the ZST–ZDT brittle zone, thus reducing the probability of crack formation.

In this study, we investigated the relationship between the decarburization effect of the solid-state decarburization method for preparing silicon steel and the atomic diffusion behavior in the matrix, focusing on 1 mm thick Fe-0.18 wt% C-Si (1.5, 3.5 wt%) alloy strips as the research object. Solid-state decarburization experiments were carried out in an Ar-H₂O-H₂ atmosphere, and the self-diffusion behavior of C and Si in Fe-C-Si alloy system was simulated by molecular dynamics. The results show that the molecular dynamics simulation results are consistent with the decarburization experimental results. When the temperature is lower than 800 °C, the atoms maintain a compact bcc structure, so the migration rate of carbon is low. When the temperature rises, the atoms move violently, resulting in the destruction of the crystal structure. Because the atomic arrangement tends towards a disordered structure, the migration rate of C is high and the diffusion coefficient increases. The experimental results showed that the decarburization rate was accelerated. At the same temperature, the diffusion activation energy Q = 48.7 kJ·mol⁻¹ of carbon in an Fe-3.5 wt% Si-C alloy matrix can be calculated. The diffusion activation energy of carbon Q = 47.3 kJ·mol⁻¹ was calculated using a molecular dynamics simulation. When the content of Si is 3.5 wt% and 1.5 wt%, the diffusion series of Si can be expressed as D_{3.5Si, Si} = 8.54 × 10⁻¹⁰ exp(−33,089.7/RT) m²/s and D_{1.5Si, Si} = 2.06 × 10⁻⁹ exp(−46,641.5/RT) m²/s, respectively. When the Si content is 3.5 wt%, the diffusion coefficient of Si is larger. After diffusion to the near surface, it combines with the remaining O to form a continuous strip of SiO₂. When the Si content is 1.5 wt%, the diffusion coefficient of Si is small. The remaining O diffuses in the matrix and will oxidize when encountering Si; it cannot aggregate in a highly-dispersed distribution. The lattice transition from face centered cubic lattice austenite to body centered cubic lattice ferrite occurred in the matrix of the thin strip. The diffusion coefficient of C in ferrite is much larger than that in austenite. Therefore, the decarburization rate suddenly increases before decarburization stagnation. With the increase in Si content, the diffusion activation energy of C decreases, which promotes the decarburization effect.