Australia-based miner Rio Tinto has announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Australian steelmaker BlueScope Steel to research and design low-emissions processes for the steel value chain, including iron ore processing, iron and steelmaking and related technologies.
Accordingly, the companies will work in cooperation to explore low-carbon steelmaking pathways using Rio Tinto’s Pilbara iron ores, including the use of green hydrogen to replace coking coal at BlueScope’s Port Kembla Steelworks. The main aim will be using green hydrogen at the Port Kembla Steelworks to directly reduce Pilbara iron ores into a product that could then be processed in an electric melter to produce metallic iron suitable to be finished into steel.
The first phase of the collaboration will be to determine the scale of a pilot plant to be based at the Port Kembla steelworks, consisting of a hydrogen electrolyser, a direct reduction process and a melter.
Rio Tinto has announced new targets of reducing its Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2030, and a 15 percent reduction in emissions by 2025. These targets are supported by around $7.5 billion of direct investments to lower emissions between 2022 and 2030.
