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Green
Cleaner Tech
MINING GIANT LOOKS TO TINY MICROBES TO CUT STUBBORN STEEL EMISSIONS
BHP is partnering with Boston-based startup Allonnia to test a unique solution
to enrich its iron ore and clean up steel.
Photographer: Bloomberg Creative Photos/Bloomberg
By
James Fernyhough
+Follow
July 7, 2023 at 10:00 AM GMT
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BHP
BHP GROUP LTD
43.96
AUD
+0.63+1.45%
IOE1
Generic 1st 'IOE' Future
819.00
CNY/MT
+15.00+1.87%
XW1
Generic 1st 'XW' Future
135.85
USD/MT
-5.10-3.62%
RIO
RIO TINTO PLC
4,947.00
GBp
+78.50+1.61%
NG1
Generic 1st 'NG' Future
2.73
USD/MMBtu
+0.00+0.04%
Open
GREEN DATA DASH
+0. 97° C
May. 2023 increase in global temperature vs. 1900s average
0
4
3
2
1
0
,
0
4
3
2
1
0
0
6
5
4
3
2
0
4
3
2
1
0
Soccer pitches of forest lost this hour, most recent data
91%
Carbon-free net power in Brazil, most recent data
$69. 9B
Renewable power investment worldwide in Q2 2020
52, 000
Million metric tons of greenhouse emissions, most recent annual data
0
6
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6
Parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere
-11. 15%
Today's arctic ice area vs. historic average
Vereeniging, South Africa
Most polluted air today, in sensor range
Open
The world’s biggest miner is trying to figure out if tiny rock-eating microbes
can help it solve a notoriously difficult climate puzzle — how to cut emissions
from steelmaking.
Most steel today is made in blast furnaces powered by coal, the dirtiest fossil
fuel, but there’s a way to refine the metal using less polluting natural gas
or hydrogen in a process called the “direct reduced iron” (DRI) method, that
reduces iron ore to iron without melting it.
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The problem is that the greener process only works on high-quality iron ore, and
most of BHP Group Ltd.’s iron ore comes from the Pilbara region in Western
Australia, where the raw material contains too much phosphorus, alumina and
other impurities to be refined using anything but coal.
That’s why BHP has enlisted the help of Boston-based Allonnia, a biotech startup
backed by, among others, Bill Gates.
Allonnia discovered that BHP’s iron ore contained phosphorus-consuming organisms
that could kickstart the refining process naturally, said Paul Perry, vice
president of innovation at BHP. “All living things eat phosphorus,” he said, but
this particular microbe also shakes loose alumina from the ore.
If these critters’ services could somehow be harnessed and scaled up, they could
be let loose on giant mounds of iron ore, where they would proceed to eat the
unwanted gunk — known as “gangue” — and create a product good enough for most of
the hydrogen-powered steel mills being developed. Most hydrogen is produced
using fossil fuels today, but if it’s manufactured using 100% clean energy, then
the steelmaking process could eventually be entirely carbon-free.
Reducing the phosphorus and alumina content could bump up the purity of the iron
ore from 62% to at least 65%, bringing it much closer to the grade needed for
less carbon-intensive DRI refining processes, according to Perry. Still, he
stressed that it's "way too early" to celebrate, saying the move from laboratory
testing to large-scale operations would be a major leap.
Allonnia has other specially crafted microbes in trials to clean up dangerous
chemicals that can linger forever in wastewater and soil. The startup’s chief
commercial officer Chuck Price said it plans to start a small-scale trial of the
new technology with BHP in 2024. “Depending on its success and the lessons we
learn, we aim for development of a full-scale plant from there,” he said.
BHP isn’t the only miner exploring ways to reduce emissions generated from
making steel. Rio Tinto is exploring the use of biomass and microwave energy to
create a less carbon-intensive process capable of handling lower-grade ore.
Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. is working with Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. and
European steelmaker Voestalpine AG on a hydrogen-based pilot plant in Austria,
where it will test refining different grades of ore. Both Rio and BHP are also
experimenting with a three-step process that uses an “electric smelting
furnace” to improve the quality of iron that comes out of a DRI plant.
Steel is needed to make everything from bridges to electric vehicles. Producing
it is responsible for an estimated 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions a year,
and finding ways to cut those emissions is crucial if the world is to avoid
catastrophic global warming. BHP aspires to reduce its Scope 3 emissions — that
is, the emissions of customers when they use its products — to net zero by 2050.
It's a huge task, given its current Scope 3 emissions are equivalent to an
eyewatering 365 million tons of CO2 a year, or almost as much as the entire UK
emits in a year. Reaching net zero would require most of the steel made by its
customers to be green by that date.
Developing greener production methods is especially important for Australian
miners like BHP, whose lower-grade iron ore risks becoming obsolete in a world
dominated by green steelmaking techniques. They “need to either find a way to
improve the quality of that Pilbara ore or look at technologies that allow the
use of lower grade iron ore,” said Simon Nicholas, a Sydney-based steel sector
analyst at the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. DRI is by
far the most advanced green steel technology, he said, but it relies on a grade
of iron ore that makes up less than 5% of today’s global supply of the
steelmaking material.
Still, which green steel method could dominate remains an open question. Miners
and steelmakers have to choose their technology pathways based on the resources
at hand, and most of these innovations may not be mature until the 2030s. Last
month, Tata Steel Ltd. said it won’t be able to reach its 2030 emissions
intensity reduction targets unless development of new
technologies accelerates.
“There are so many unknowns,” said Simon Farry, Rio Tinto’s head of steel
decarbonization. “This is an absolute revolution for the industry, but it’s not
going to happen at the speed of a revolution. It’s going to be an evolution over
two to four decades.”
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IN THIS ARTICLE
BHP
BHP GROUP LTD
43.96
AUD
+0.63+1.45%
IOE1
Generic 1st 'IOE' Future
819.00
CNY/MT
+15.00+1.87%
XW1
Generic 1st 'XW' Future
135.85
USD/MT
-5.10-3.62%
RIO
RIO TINTO PLC
4,947.00
GBp
+78.50+1.61%
NG1
Generic 1st 'NG' Future
2.73
USD/MMBtu
+0.00+0.04%
Open
GREEN DATA DASH
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