Under the constraint of carbon neutralization goal, the iron and steel industry plays an important role in leading the global green and low-carbon development and dealing with climate change. At a time when the traditional process is about to reach the limit of carbon reduction, the iron and steel industry must break through the barrier of breakthrough technology in order to achieve low-carbon development. From the future development trend, hydrogen metallurgy has become a new tuyere in the iron and steel industry.
Although the EAF steelmaking process with scrap as raw material has developed rapidly in recent years, the long process with iron ore as raw material is still the mainstream of the global iron and steel industry. International mines with rich and high-quality iron ore resources (BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Vale) have begun to actively lay out the development of hydrogen reduction iron ore technology, and cooperate with global steel enterprises, especially Asian steel enterprises with relatively low self-sufficiency in iron ore resources, to explore the development of hydrogen-based ironmaking using iron ore as raw materials and increase the added value of their business. Realize the transformation from a single resource supplier to a composite enterprise of materials and technology, while reducing carbon emissions in the process of operation and transportation. Iron and steel companies will also work with mining companies to reduce the risk of excessive cost load caused by the development of new technologies, while taking advantage of the opportunity to accelerate the development of low-carbon technologies to achieve the goal of carbon neutralization. This paper will take stock of the key cooperation projects between international mines and Asian steel enterprises in the field of low-carbon technology.
1. Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto announced in February 2020 that it aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 15 per cent compared with 2018 levels by 2030 and hopes to be carbon neutral by 2050.
Posco, South Korea
On July 8, 2021, South Korea's Posco announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Australian mining company Rio Tinto to jointly explore, develop and demonstrate technologies for the transition to a low-carbon steel value chain. The partnership will integrate Rio Tinto's iron ore processing technology with Posco's steelmaking technology, with the goal of developing and building a series of decarbonization technologies across the entire steel value chain from iron ore mining to steelmaking. The South Korean government proposes to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 or earlier. Posco divides the goal of achieving carbon neutrality into short-term, medium-term and long-term goals. Based on the average CO2 emissions of Posco in 2017-2019 (78.8 million tons), the short-term goal is to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% by 2030; the medium-term goal is to reduce CO2 emissions by 50% by 2040; and the long-term goal is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
China Baowu Group
In December 2020, China Baowu Iron and Steel Group announced that it would cooperate with Rio Tinto on low-carbon metallurgical projects and research. To this end, Rio Tinto will contribute US $10 million in the next two years to further boost the short-term and long-term decarbonization goals of the iron and steel industry chain, and work together to improve the carbon reduction and environmental benefits of the whole steel industry chain. At the same time, the investment will further deepen the cooperation reached between China's Baowu and Rio Tinto and Tsinghua University in 2019 in tackling climate change. On September 25, 2019, Rio Tinto signed a memorandum of understanding with Baowu and Tsinghua University to jointly develop and implement new technologies to reduce carbon emissions and improve the environmental performance of the entire steel value chain.
Baowu took the lead in issuing a timetable for achieving carbon peak and carbon neutralization in China's iron and steel industry: low-carbon metallurgical roadmap in 2021, carbon peak in 2023, carbon reduction by 30% in 2025, carbon reduction by 30% in 2035, and carbon neutralization in 2050. In order to achieve the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutralization as scheduled, Baowu actively plans to set up a carbon neutralization fund. On July 15 this year, Baowu launched the largest carbon neutralization theme fund in the Chinese market, with a total size of 50 billion yuan.
Japanese iron
In December 2020, Nippon Iron and Steel signed a memorandum of understanding with Rio Tinto to jointly develop technologies related to decarbonization in the entire production chain from raw material mining to steelmaking, in order to develop innovative production processes that reduce carbon emissions and reduce environmental pollution. Nippon Steel said in its newly released medium-and long-term business plan that by 2030, the company would reduce COURSE50 emissions by 30 per cent compared with 2013 by implementing the practical application of CO2 in the existing blast furnace-converter production process, implementing measures to reduce CO2 emissions in the existing process and building an efficient production system. In addition, Nippon Steel also released the "Nippon Iron-carbon Neutralization Vision 2050-meeting the Challenge of Zero carbon Steel". Facing 2050, the company will batch produce high grade steel, Super COURSE50 and other blast furnace hydrogen reduction process development, challenge CO2 net zero emission, hydrogen metallurgy and other cutting-edge technologies, including CO2 capture, storage and use of (CCUS) and other carbon compensation countermeasures to achieve carbon neutralization.
2. BHP Billiton
In July 2019, BHP announced that it would establish a $400 million climate investment plan to develop technologies to reduce carbon emissions from operations and resource use processes. In September 2020, BHP announced plans to reduce its operating emissions by at least 30 per cent from 2020 levels by 2030 and will focus on cleaner energy generation, with the ultimate goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
China Hegang Group
On March 5, 2021, BHP Billiton and Hegang Group signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation in dealing with climate change. The two sides will jointly promote low-carbon metallurgy, recycling technology innovation and R & D deployment, and use green raw materials to make green steel. According to the MOU, BHP Billiton plans to invest US $15 million in the next three years to jointly study and explore greenhouse gas emission reduction technologies and paths with Hegang Group, and the two sides will focus on greenhouse gas emission reduction in the iron and steel industry. work together around three key areas: hydrogen direct reducing iron technology, steel slag treatment and recycling technology, and the improvement of the utilization rate of iron ore. The strategic partnership with Hegang will be part of a $400 million climate investment plan announced by BHP Billiton in 2019.
On March 12, 2021, Hegang Group issued a low-carbon green development action plan: a road map for low-carbon metallurgy will be issued in 2021, a carbon peak will be achieved in 2022, carbon emissions will be reduced by more than 10% by 2025, carbon emissions will be reduced by more than 30% by 2030, and carbon neutralization will be achieved by 2050.
Japan JFE Steel
On February 10, 2021, JFE Steel of Japan and BHP Billiton signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly explore technologies to reduce CO2 emissions by using green DRI in the steelmaking process. In September, JFE Steel announced its medium-and long-term carbon reduction target, which aims to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 20% by fiscal year 2030 compared with fiscal year 2013 and to be carbon neutral by 2050.
China Baowu Group
On November 6, 2020, BHP Billiton and China Baowu Group signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation in jointly tackling climate change. According to the memorandum, BHP plans to invest US $35 million over the next five years to cooperate with Baowu in other low-carbon technologies using low-carbon fuels such as blast furnace hydrogen injection and CO2 capture, utilization and storage. The five-year strategic cooperation reached with Baowu of China is not only part of BHP's $400 million climate investment plan, but also an important part of BHP's sustainable development strategy, that is, to join hands with upstream and downstream partners in the industrial chain to deal with climate change.
Vale
On May 12, 2020, Vale announced that it would invest at least $2 billion over the next decade to reduce its absolute emissions by 33% from 2017 (14.1 million tons) by 2030 and to be carbon neutral by 2050.
Kobe steel, Japan
In July 2020, Vale, Kobe Steel and Mitsui announced the establishment of a joint venture to develop and promote low-carbon ironmaking technologies, including Tecnored and Midrex, and to provide technical solutions to the global steel industry. Tecnored makes iron through the use of alternative energy sources such as biomass, syngas and hydrogen, which produces less CO2 emissions than traditional ironmaking processes using coal and coke. Midrex is the mainstream of direct reduction ironmaking technology in the world. At present, more than 60% of the direct reduction iron production in the world uses Midrex technology. Due to the simultaneous use of natural gas and hydrogen as reducing agent in the production process, the CO2 emission level of this technology is lower than that of the traditional blast furnace process.
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