Australian environmental technology company Calix Limited has announced that it has completed a Front-End Engineering and Design (FFED) study for a 30 000 tpy Zero Emissions Steel Technology (ZESTY) Hydrogen Direct Reduced Iron (H-DRI) demonstration plant.
The study was supported with funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
Highlights:
- The FEED study estimates ZESTY can produce near-zero emissions hot briquetted iron (HBI) from low grade iron ore for approximately AUS$630 – 800 per t of HBI.
- This cost is close to the range of existing, carbon-intensive HBI processing costs, before any benefit of emissions reduction is accounted for.
- ZESTY would reduce the emissions intensity of reducing iron ore to metal iron from 1.89 t of CO2 / t of iron to near zero. The reduction of iron ore to metal iron currently accounts for 80 – 85% of the steel industry’s carbon dioxide emissions.
- An expansive ore testing programme demonstrated metallisation degrees of commercial grade for a range of ores, including low grade Australian hematite ore.
- ZESTY’s low cost of production is driven by efficient hydrogen use, efficient electric heating, and the elimination of additional processing steps.
- Further cost savings are expected as the technology is scaled and refined.
- A Final Investment Decision on a ZESTY HBI Demonstration facility is being progressed and is subject to plant location and commercial agreements currently under negotiation.
The ZESTY FEED study aimed to complete the initial engineering for a 30 000 tpy ZESTY Hydrogen Direct Reduced Iron (H-DRI) demonstration plant and provide an estimate of the levelised cost of producing briquettes of H-DRI using iron ore fines (<6 mm) of low-grade hematite or hematite/goethite blends using the ZESTY technology. The study was supported by an expanded ore testing programme at Calix’s Bacchus Marsh pilot scale facility, covering a large proportion of Australian iron ore sources.