en.Wedoany.com Reported - Baowu and Rio Tinto jointly announced the successful completion of an industrial trial for pelletizing and shaft furnace operations using a blend of Rio Tinto's Pilbara iron ore from Western Australia. This achievement is part of their collaboration to explore ways to reduce emissions in steel production.
The trial was conducted at Baowu's Zhanjiang Iron and Steel base, operated by Baosteel, utilizing hydrogen-based shaft furnace technology to produce direct reduced iron (DRI). One-third of the iron ore feedstock in the produced pellets consisted of Pilbara blended ore. The DRI produced was subsequently successfully fed into an industrial-scale converter for steelmaking, while small-scale electric smelting furnace trials were also carried out.
The trial results indicate that typical medium-grade iron ore from the Pilbara region in Western Australia can serve as a feedstock for hydrogen-based direct reduction. When combined with electric smelting furnace technology in the future, this could potentially provide a resource foundation for low-carbon steel transformation. While direct reduction shaft furnace production based on high-grade iron ore is already common, expanding the range of raw material and fuel sources for the direct reduction process has been a key research focus for the industry.
The completion of this industrial trial fulfills a key collaborative initiative outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Baowu and Rio Tinto in 2023. The MoU aims to explore technological pathways to help reduce carbon emissions in the steel value chain, and both parties will continue to advance other collaborative projects under this framework.
As a leading global steel producer and a long-term customer of Rio Tinto, Baowu continues to deepen its development of low-carbon steelmaking technologies. Rio Tinto and Baowu have a partnership spanning over 50 years, covering areas such as project development, technological innovation, and steelmaking technology research. Since 2020, the two parties have initiated and advanced a multi-phase carbon reduction partnership.
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