Rio Tinto targets low-carbon steel production with new technology
October 13 2021 - 5:30PM
Business Wire
Rio Tinto is progressing an innovative new technology to deliver
low-carbon steel, using sustainable biomass in place of coking coal
in the steelmaking process, in a potentially cost-effective option
to cut industry carbon emissions.
Over the past decade, Rio Tinto has developed a
laboratory-proven process that combines the use of raw, sustainable
biomass with microwave technology to convert iron ore to metallic
iron during the steelmaking process. The patent-pending process,
one of a number of avenues the company is pursuing to try to lower
emissions in the steel value chain, is now being further tested in
a small-scale pilot plant.
If this and larger-scale tests are successful, there is the
potential over time for this technology to be scaled commercially
to process Rio Tinto’s iron ore fines.
Rio Tinto Iron Ore Chief Executive Simon Trott said, “We are
encouraged by early testing results of this new process, which
could provide a cost-efficient way to produce low-carbon steel from
our Pilbara iron ore.
“More than 70 per cent of Rio Tinto’s Scope 3 emissions are
generated as customers process our iron ore into steel, which is
critical for urbanisation and infrastructure development as the
world’s economies decarbonise. So, while it’s still early days and
there is a lot more research and other work to do, we are keen to
explore further development of this technology.”
Rio Tinto’s process uses plant matter known as lignocellulosic
biomass, instead of coal, primarily as a chemical reductant. The
biomass is blended with iron ore and heated by a combination of gas
released by the biomass and high efficiency microwaves that can be
powered by renewable energy.
Rio Tinto researchers are working with the multi-disciplinary
team in the University of Nottingham’s Microwave Process
Engineering Group to further develop the process.
The University’s Head of Department, Chemical and Environmental
Engineering, Professor Chris Dodds, said, “It is really exciting to
have the opportunity to be part of a great team working on a
technology that, if developed to commercial scale, has the
potential to have a global impact through decarbonising key parts
of the steel production process.”
The use of raw biomass in Rio Tinto’s process could also avoid
the inefficiencies and associated costs of other biomass-based
technologies that first convert the biomass into charcoal or
biogas.
Lignocellulosic biomass includes agriculture by-products (i.e.
wheat straw, corn stover, barley straw, sugar cane bagasse) and
purpose-grown crops, which would be sustainable sources for the
process.
Importantly, the process cannot use foods such as sugar or corn,
and Rio Tinto would not use biomass sources that support logging of
old-growth forests.
Simon Trott said, “We know there are complex issues related to
biomass sourcing and use and there is a lot more work to do for
this to be a genuinely sustainable solution for steelmaking. We
will continue working with others to understand more about these
concerns and the availability of sustainable biomass.”
If developed further, the technology would be accompanied by a
robust and independently accredited certification process for
sustainable sources of biomass.
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