On July 9, the list of winners of the 16th Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Prize was announced at the General Assembly of Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering held at the Great Hall of the People. Ye Hengdi, Chief Scientist of China Minmetals, was presented with the Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Prize.

The Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Prize, administered by the Chinese Academy of Engineering, is hailed as the "highest award in China's engineering field." It aims to recognize Chinese engineering science and technology experts who have made significant contributions and achieved outstanding accomplishments in the fields of engineering science, technology, and engineering management. The prize is awarded biennially. First presented in 1996, it has been conferred across 15 sessions, honoring 383 individual scientists and one collective team.

Ye Hengdi has long been engaged in research and development of basic theories and applied technologies for green iron and steel metallurgy. He proposed the technical concept of "collaborative control of material‑energy conversion and recycling." He has developed technologies and equipment including regenerative temperature‑controlled waste energy recycling sintering, integrated treatment of complex smelting flue gas coupled with sulfur resource recycling, and graded recovery of polymetallic smelting dust and sludge for the extraction of key metals. He pioneered a new research direction of carbon-cycle metallurgy, and established a complete system of environmental engineering technologies, equipment and standards for iron and steel metallurgy based on “process reconstruction for emission reduction, coordinated carbon and pollutant control, and circular utilization of resources”. The relevant achievements have been applied to more than 400 production lines at home and abroad. He has published three monographs, won one First Prize and one Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, more than 10 provincial and ministerial science and technology awards, and over 20 engineering awards including the National Excellent Engineering Survey and Design Award. He has also received honorary titles such as the 3rd National Innovation Pioneer Award and Fellow of The Chinese Society for Metals.

Over the years, the Party Leadership Group of China Minmetals has consistently adhered to the principle that science and technology constitute the primary productive force, talent the primary resource, and innovation the primary driver of development. It has fully implemented the innovation-driven development strategy and the talent-driven enterprise development strategy, prioritizing the development of core scientific and technological talent teams. By establishing and improving mechanisms for the training, deployment and incentive of high-caliber talent, the Group has provided solid support and a strong guarantee for leading researchers to concentrate on tackling core bottlenecks technologies and spearheading industrial progress. A cohort of scientists and technologists represented by Ye Hengdi have long been working at the forefront of research, scaling the heights of science and technology, and vividly embodying the spirit of scientists in the new era through their persistence and dedication. They have played a significant role in advancing China Minmetals' drive toward high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, building a modern industrial system, and developing new quality productive forces.