Calix’s zero emissions steel technology (Zesty) has won the global Net Zero Industries Award for Outstanding Project at the COP29 award ceremony in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The environmental technology company’s Zesty technology is a renewable energy powered hydrogen direct reduced iron technology, used for the production of green iron and green steel. The technology’s indirect heating enables fossil fuel combustion to be replaced by efficient electric heating.
Calix says Zesty can run intermittently to match renewable power generation or help stabilise electricity grids.
The COP29 award recognises Zesty’s potential to deliver a low-cost solution to produce green iron and green steel.
CEO Phil Hodgson says iron and steel, which is responsible for around 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions, is one of the largest and hardest-to-abate sources of industrial emissions.
“I hope this award highlights the hard-to-abate climate challenges can be solved,” Hodgson says.
“Technology solutions are ready to be scaled and deployed. And Zesty, with its minimal hydrogen use, efficient electric heating, and compatibility with a range of ore types, has the potential to deliver an industry-wide and lowest cost solution.
“Zesty’s success has been made possible through our collaboration with industry partners and members of the Heavy Industry Low-carbon Transition Cooperative Research Centre, coupled with support from the Australian Government.”
Heavy Industry Low-carbon Transition Cooperative Research Centre CEO Jenny Selway says the “innovative” thinking behind Zesty is a prime example of what industry needs to develop cost-competitive and scalable technology for low emissions iron ore processing.
Zesty is a Hydrogen Direct Reduced Iron technology with unique benefits proven through extensive pilot-scale testing at the Calix Technology Centre in Victoria, Australia. These benefits include:
- Minimal hydrogen use – with a unique ‘indirect heating’ approach, Zesty only uses hydrogen to reduce iron ore to metallic iron. Hydrogen is not combusted or used as a fuel, and unused hydrogen is simply recycled. This unique feature enables Zesty to target the theoretical minimum hydrogen use and therefore minimum cost in green iron making.
- Compatible with low-grade ores and fines – Zesty has proven green iron production with metallisation rates of up to 98% from low-grade hematite ores from the Australian Pilbara. These ores represent approximately 50% of global iron ore supply and are not otherwise suited to low-carbon steelmaking.
- Efficient and flexible electric heating – Zesty uses energy efficient electric heating to replace fossil fuel combustion. Fully compatible with intermittent renewable energy sources, Zesty is designed to rapidly ramp up or down operations based on grid supply/demand.
- Simplified and low-cost processing – Zesty removes the need for costly additional processing steps, such as pelletisation.
- Proven at pilot scale – the Zesty project has thoroughly tested and proven the technology at pilot scale. This work included over 130 test runs from nine different sources from leading global iron ore producers.
- Cost competitive – the pilot found that even at demonstration scale, Zesty could produce green iron for ~US$410-520 per tonne. This is close to conventional, carbon-intensive HBI costs, and includes capital and processing costs. No credit is taken for a carbon price.
The Net Zero Industries Mission was first launched in 2022 and is the first ever global innovation coalition. The mission, led by Austria and Australia, aims to develop and demonstrate cost-competitive solutions to create a net zero industries future.
Calix is an environmental technology company that works to solve urgent global challenges in industrial decarbonisation and sustainability.
Held between 11-22 November, COP29 is a United Nations climate conference. A key focus for this year’s conference is financial, as trillions of dollars are required for countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect lives from the worsening impacts of climate change.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Calix
