China Baowu and Rio Tinto say they’ve efficiently accomplished industrial-scale pelletisation and shaft furnace trials in China utilizing Rio Tinto’s Pilbara Mix iron ore, as a part of their broader partnership to review methods to cut back steelmaking emissions.
Below the trials, at China Baowu’s Baoshan Iron & Metal Zhanjiang Metal Operations, a hydrogen-based shaft furnace was used to provide direct diminished iron (DRI) from pellets comprising one-third Pilbara Mix ore. This noticed a 5 Mt/y grate-kiln facility used for pellet manufacturing, adopted by a 1 Mt/y hydrogen-based shaft furnace for DRI manufacturing.
The DRI was then efficiently transformed into metal in an industrial-scale primary oxygen furnace and was additionally examined in a small-scale (500 kg) electrical smelting furnace.
The trials present that typical mid-grade ores mined in Western Australia’s Pilbara area can be utilized as hydrogen-based direct discount feedstock and may very well be a future supply for low-carbon steelmaking when mixed with electrical smelting furnace know-how, the businesses say. Whereas direct discount shaft furnace manufacturing is already broadly used for high-grade iron ore, increasing feedstock and gas choices is a key business focus.
This milestone delivers on a key initiative below a 2023 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Baowu and Rio Tinto to discover applied sciences to assist decarbonise the metal worth chain. Each corporations proceed to work collectively on different initiatives below the MoU.
Baowu Low Carbon Centre Government Deputy Director and Baowu Central Analysis Institute Deputy Director, Dr Mao Xiaoming, mentioned: “These trials symbolize pragmatic actions applied below the Local weather Partnership MoU between China Baowu and Rio Tinto. The profitable industrial-scale trials assist each events advance understanding in lower-emissions iron and metal making applied sciences. Extra importantly, they replicate the sturdy technical collaboration between Baowu and Rio Tinto, combining our respective experience throughout iron ore, course of innovation and industrial utility.”
Rio Tinto Iron Ore Gross sales and Advertising and marketing Vice President, Ramona Sim, mentioned: “This is a vital technical milestone demonstrating that Pilbara Mix iron ore can be utilized in a direct discount shaft furnace course of at an industrial scale, which has the potential to considerably scale back emissions compared with the normal blast furnace. The trials, alongside our broader ongoing work, proceed to construct confidence that Pilbara iron ore can play a essential function in decrease carbon steelmaking.
“We stay dedicated to working intently with our clients to develop sensible, scalable options that help their decarbonisation objectives and place Pilbara iron ore for a lower-carbon future.”
Baowu is without doubt one of the world’s main steelmakers and is a long-standing Rio Tinto buyer, with a robust deal with creating decrease carbon steelmaking applied sciences.
Rio Tinto and China Baowu have labored collectively for greater than 50 years throughout mission improvement, know-how innovation and steelmaking analysis. The businesses have been progressing a multi-phase decarbonisation partnership since 2020.
