The University of Wollongong (UoW) has announced plans to investigate ways to decarbonise the Port Kembla Steel Works, as part of a 13 month research partnership with BlueScope Steel and the Future Fuels Cooperative Research Centre.
According to UoW, the site-specific program aims to find ways to cut energy use and greenhouse gas emissions through new technology and methods at Bluescope’s Port Kembla facility, in New South Wales’ Illawarra region.
The budget for the project is $1.8 million, which includes $924,784 from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and direct funding from BlueScope, as well as in-kind contributions from each partner.
The research will look at the technical and economic feasibility of a range of smart carbon usage and direct carbon avoidance technologies for the plant.
Some of the technologies the project will look at include the potential for substituting fossil fuels with hydrogen, as well as utilising gases that otherwise would have been flared off to produce biochar.
The project will run in three phases: the first investigating all available technologies, the second evaluating the potential of biochar, and the third covering research and development and next steps.
“UOW’s multidisciplinary science and engineering capabilities, particularly in sustainable steelmaking and clean energy fields, should help advance a range of innovative solutions for future, lower emissions steelmaking at Port Kembla.”
UoW Steel Research Hub director, Dr Paul Zulli
“UOW’s multidisciplinary science and engineering capabilities, particularly in sustainable steelmaking and clean energy fields, should help advance a range of innovative solutions for future, lower emissions steelmaking at Port Kembla,” commented UoW Steel Research Hub director Dr Paul Zulli.
The research is in addition to a low-emission steel pilot plant that Bluescope is building at Port Kembla, in collaboration with mining group Rio Tinto, which is trialling hydrogen direct reduced iron technology.