Australian miner BHP has announced that, together with Chinese steelmaker China Baowu Steel, it has renewed their steel decarbonization partnership through a new five-year memorandum of understanding, extending their cooperation that began in 2020.
Under the renewed partnership, the companies will continue to work on lower-emission steelmaking technologies, focusing on reducing emissions from existing blast furnace operations as well as developing emerging steelmaking technologies.
Modified blast furnace technologies to use Pilbara iron ore
One of the main areas of cooperation will be modified blast furnace technologies using BHP's Pilbara iron ore. The companies aim to demonstrate a process capable of achieving a carbon dioxide emissions intensity at least 30 percent lower than conventional blast furnace operations and potentially more than 80 percent lower when combined with carbon storage and renewable energy.
BHP and China Baowu will also continue trials using Pilbara iron ore in direct reduced iron production, followed by processing in China Baowu's planned demonstration-scale electric smelting furnace.
Previous DRI trials achieved 50 percent lower emissions intensity
Since 2020, the two companies have conducted several pilot projects and steelmaking trials. These have included the use of BHP's Pilbara iron ore in China Baowu's one million mt per year hydrogen-based direct reduced iron furnace. According to BHP, the trials produced iron with a carbon dioxide emissions intensity 50 percent lower than blast furnace-based iron and supported pilot-scale electric smelting furnace testing aimed at demonstrating the potential for near-zero-emission steelmaking.
BHP stated that it will continue supporting multiple steel decarbonization pathways, including measures to reduce emissions from existing blast furnaces and technologies based on hydrogen and electricity that can use its Pilbara iron ore as feedstock.
