BHP to pilot green smelting furnace using electricity, hydrogen and Pilbara iron ore

BHP and global engineering company Hatch have signed an agreement to co-design an electric smelting furnace pilot plant, a first of its kind steel production technique that, if successful, would pave the way to low CO2 steelmaking.

The pilot program will use iron ore mined by BHP in the Pilbara. The small-scale demonstration plant would be used to collaborate with steel producers and technology providers to test the process, with a longer term goal of accelerating the scale up of electric smelting furnace (ESF) technology.

Steelmaking, which requires high temperatures to strip oxygen from iron ore to make pure iron, is a deeply polluting industry, with almost two tonnes of CO2 produced for every one tonne of steel. The sector is estimated to make up 7% of global emissions.

Australia is a big player in steel: it produces around 3.5 million tonnes of steel annually and, more importantly, exports up to 900 million tonnes of iron ore per year to be smelted into steel elsewhere.

But steelmaking has proved tricky to decarbonise. ESFs are furnaces that can produce steel from iron ore using electricity and hydrogen, when combined with a step from the more traditional direct reduced iron (DRI) method of turning iron ore into iron.

According to BHP and Hatch, CO2 emissions reductions of more than 80% are theoretically achievable using this new furnace type.

ESFs also bypass a major problem for Pilbara ores: they can take in ores with a wider range of impurities and raw materials than other low-emission technologies like electric arc furnaces, which require ores with low levels of impurity.

Following the pilot, the two companies will assess various locations around Australia for the proposed facility based on existing infrastructure, skills and the availability of local partnerships.

“We see the ESF process as a critical breakthrough in significantly reducing the carbon emissions intensity of steel production and one that provides an opportunity for iron ore from our Pilbara mines,” says BHP’s chief commercial officer, Vandita Pant.

“The steel industry has identified the ESF as a viable option to use a wider range of raw materials and steel companies globally are looking to build commercial-scale ESF plants as part of their CO2 emission reduction roadmaps.

BHP’s group sales and marketing officer, Michiel Hovers says Hatch is a key partner in carbon emissions reduction initiatives across the world

“The ESF technology is very exciting and potentially very relevant for reducing the carbon emissions intensity of steel production and provides new and exciting opportunities for our Pilbara iron ore and our customers,” Hovers says.

“BHP and Hatch have collaborated on steel technology and design for reducing GHG emissions from over several years, including the ESF and in collaboration with steel producers, and this project is a natural progression in our partnership.”

See also: Fortescue hails “green iron” breakthrough as own coal-free tech moves to pilot phase