Rio Tinto will invest US$143 million (A$215 million) to develop a research and development facility in Western Australia to further assess the effectiveness of its low-carbon ironmaking process, BioIron, to support decarbonizing the global steel value chain. (Earlier post.)

The development of the BioIron Research and Development Facility in the Rockingham Strategic Industrial Area, south of Perth, follows successful trials of the innovative ironmaking process in a small-scale pilot plant in Germany.

BioIron uses raw biomass and microwave energy instead of coal to convert Pilbara iron ore to metallic iron in the steelmaking process. When combined with the use of renewable energy and carbon-circulation by fast-growing biomass, BioIron has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by up to 95% compared with the current blast furnace method.

The BioIron facility will include a pilot plant that will be ten times bigger than its predecessor in Germany. It will also be the first time the innovative steelmaking process has been tested at a semi-industrial scale, capable of producing one tonne of direct reduced iron per hour. It will provide the required data to assess further scaling of the technology to a larger demonstration plant.

The plant has been designed in collaboration with University of Nottingham, Metso Corporation and Western Australian engineering company Sedgman Onyx. Fabrication of the equipment will begin this year, with commissioning expected in 2026. These works are expected to support up to 60 construction jobs.

The research and development facility will employ around 30 full-time employees and include space for equipment testing to support further scaling up of the BioIron technology, while developing a workforce highly skilled in steel decarbonisation and supporting WA universities and research organisations.

Steelmaking accounts for 8% of the world’s carbon emissions, and 69% of Rio Tinto’s Scope 3 emissions in 2023. BioIron was invented by Rio Tinto’s steel decarbonisation team after a decade of extensive research.

Electricity consumption in the BioIron process is about one-third of the electricity required by other steelmaking processes that rely on renewable hydrogen.

BioIron uses raw biomass such as agricultural by-products such as wheat straw, barley straw, sugarcane bagasse, rice stalks, and canola straw, instead of coal as the reducing agent.

Rio Tinto is aware of the complexities around the use of biomass supply and is working to ensure only sustainable sources of biomass are used. Through discussions with environmental groups, as a first step Rio Tinto has ruled out sources that support the logging of old growth and High Conservation Value forests.