Product catalogue
From Australian iron ore to green steel: the opportunity for technology-driven decarbonisation
Australian iron ore is predominantly exported and used for steelmaking internationally. However, steelmaking is an energy- and carbon-intensive heavy industry, and its electrification in the coming decades will likely disrupt the existing iron ore–steel value chains. Green steel—produced using hydrogen and electricity from renewable energy sources—presents both opportunities and challenges for Australia. Indeed, with abundant renewable energy potential and iron-ore resources, Australia could lead this global transformation. Here, we examine the interrelationships between the Australian iron-ore industry, the production of green-hydrogen from renewable energy sources, and an emergent green steelmaking process. In particular, we undertake detailed case studies to estimate current green steel production costs within two regions; the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia and the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. While existing technology is not well suited to Australian hematite ores, our analysis highlights the site-specific competitiveness of small-scale, magnetite-fed, off-grid operations. The results underscore the advantages of a well-optimised system in decreasing hydrogen and energy storage requirements, and decreasing production costs. While our results also suggest that grid-connected projects could reduce costs through flexible operation, more work is required to understand the limitations of these conclusions. The results underscore the need to develop technologies to utilise hematite ores in green steelmaking, but also highlight the opportunity for this emerging industry to commercialise Australia’s magnetite resources.
<b>Citation: </b>Wang C., Walsh S. D. C., Haynes M. W., Weng Z., Feitz A., Summerfield D., & Lutalo I., 2022. From Australian iron ore to green steel: the opportunity for technology-driven decarbonisation. In: Czarnota, K. (ed.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts, Geoscience Australia, Canberra, https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/147005
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2022-07-05
- Date (Publication)
- 2022-08-07T23:01:40
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/147005
- Citation identifier
- Digital Object Identifier/https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/147005
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Author Wang, C.
Monash University chang.wang@monash.edu External Contact Author Walsh, S.D.C.
External Contact Author Haynes, M.
MEG Internal Contact Author Weng, Z.
MEG Internal Contact Author Feitz, A.
MEG Internal Contact Author Summerfield, D.
MEG Internal Contact Author Lutalo, I.
Monash University External Contact Publisher Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- Purpose
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Exploring For The Future Extended abstract
- Status
- Completed
- Point of contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Haynes, M.
MEG Internal Contact Resource provider Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division
External Contact
- Spatial representation type
- Topic category
-
- Geoscientific information
Extent
Extent
))
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Not planned
Resource format
- Title
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Product data repository: Various Formats
- Website
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Data Store directory containing the digital product files
Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes
- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
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CHEMICAL SCIENCES
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EARTH SCIENCES
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ECONOMICS
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ENGINEERING
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- Project
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Exploring for the Future
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- Project
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EFTF
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- Project
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Economic Fairways
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- Theme
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Iron ore
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- Theme
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Green steel
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- Theme
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Hydrogen
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- Keywords
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Australia's Resources Framework
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- Keywords
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Published_External
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Resource constraints
- Title
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
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CC-BY
- Edition
-
4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- License
- Other constraints
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(c) Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2022
Resource constraints
- Title
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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- Distributor contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- OnLine resource
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Extended Abstract for download (pdf) [2.1 MB]
Extended Abstract for download (pdf) [2.1 MB]
- Distribution format
-
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pdf
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Resource lineage
- Statement
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This publication was produced as part of Geoscience Australia's Exploring for the Future Program. It was presented at the Exploring for the Future 2022 Showcase.
Metadata constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security Classification System
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
urn:uuid/5377741d-ece0-4e01-b87e-6bf49da11c03
- Title
-
GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Contact
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Owner Haynes, M
Internal Contact Point of contact Haynes, M.
MEG Internal Contact
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Document
- Name
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EFTF Extended Abstract
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
-
Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/147005
- Date info (Creation)
- 2019-04-08T01:55:29
- Date info (Revision)
- 2019-04-08T01:55:29
Metadata standard
- Title
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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-3
- Title
-
Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
- Edition
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Version 2.0, September 2018
- Citation identifier
- https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551