The pace of green manufacturing ventures in Australia is accelerating, as mining giant Rio Tinto and steel maker Bluescope announced a venture to use renewable energy to make green steel in Port Kembla, while Fortescue announced another hydrogen technology purchase.
Rio Tinto, fresh from announcing it would power its two big aluminium smelters in Australia with renewables by the end of the decade, and build another 2GW of wind and solar for its iron ore mines, says the deal with Bluescope will focus on using renewable hydrogen in the steel making process.
“This concept will involve producing a low emissions iron feed for consumption at Port Kembla and will explore the direct reduction of Rio Tinto’s Pilbara iron ores, with the intent of using green hydrogen produced from renewable electricity,” a joint statement said.
“The direct reduced iron (DRI) from this process will be melted in an electrical furnace, powered with renewable electricity, to produce iron suitable for the steelmaking process.”
The first phase of the project will be used to determine the scale of a pilot plant to be based at Bluescope’s Port Kembla Steelworks, consisting of a hydrogen electrolyser, direct reduction equipment and a melter.
“The new collaboration will focus on utilising green hydrogen for direct reduction of Rio Tinto’s Pilbara iron ores, which will then be fed into a melter,” BlueScope CEO Mark Vassella said in a statement.
“This is an important program – one which will need broad support from governments, regulators, customers and suppliers.
“At a time when there is much talk and expectation about decarbonisation, this is an example of two significant Australian businesses getting on with real action. We are putting our dollars and our people right on the front line of addressing climate change.
BlueScope says it is looking at other pathways to low-emissions steelmaking, including the potential use of charcoal from forestry and construction waste to replace coal and other carbon sources in a blast furnace.
Meanwhile, Fortescue Future Industries – the “100 per cent renewable green energy and industry company” of iron ore giant Fortescue Metals, says it has acquired the commercial assets of Xergy Inc and Xergy One Ltd in the US to form a new green hydrogen technology company FFI Ionix Inc.
The hydrogen technologies including exchange membranes for water electrolysis, electrochemical compression, water transmission and fuel cells.
It is the third deal on hydrogen technologies announced in as many weeks. FFI bought a majority stake in Dutch-based HyET, which also makes hydrogen technologies and thin film solar modules, which FFI wants to make in Australia, and signed a deal with US-based Plug Power for a 2GW electrolyser factory.
“These investments will advance the technologies needed for FFI’s green hydrogen projects,” FFI chief executive Julie Shuttleworth said in a statement.
“Together, our goal is to make zero emissions energy available at an industrial, global scale as we become the world’s leading, fully renewable energy and green products company.”
FFI has set an ambitious target of making 15 million tonnes of green hydrogen a year by 2030, and more thereafter. It’s a target that would require tens of gigawatts of wind and solar capacity.
Xergy founder and FFI Ionix general manager Bamdad Bahar said the company had property of more than 100 patents and applications. “I am incredibly proud to have joined FFI Ionix and the global battle against climate change,” he said in a statement.
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