BlueScope has investigated the technical feasibility of renewable energy and decarbonisation technology pathways that have the potential to decarbonise the steelmaking process at Port Kembla Steelworks.
The final assessment process provides recommendations on site-specific prioritised options for the short- to medium-term and long-term.
In the short-to-medium term, the focus will be on optimising existing operating assets, including a relined No. 6 blast furnace, through energy and process efficiencies, low carbon energy sources and technology upgrades to increase scrap utilisation.
For the long-term decarbonisation pathway, BlueScope is focusing on the DRI route via a Direct Reduced Iron Options Study.
Report extract
This final Phase 3 report follows the Phase 1 report detailing a site-specific evaluation of potential emissions reduction opportunities at Port Kembla Steelworks (PKSW) and Phase 2 report detailing biochar investigation and trials. This report describes the potential contribution of key prioritised options to PKSW’s decarbonisation pathway. This is based on a high-level assessment of key issues and development gaps associated with each prioritised option, considering operational, engineering, environmental and safety aspects. Preliminary process integration-based simulation modelling of some of the prioritised options relative to a baseline PKSW operation was undertaken. Based on all aspects of the project, a final assessment identified a suite of short to medium- and long-term prioritised options for further consideration and recommended actions to progress.
