Green Steel forging ahead with WA green steel plants

Green Steel of WA has taken to social media to commit to completing what it hopes will be Australia’s first hydrogen based steel plant by 2028.

The company has been quietly developing two projects – an electric arc furnace to recycle scrap and the state’s first green hydrogen direct-reduced iron (DRI) plant with a total investment envisaged of $2 billion.

The company said on social media: “We…are developing a H2 DRI plant using Danieli Group’s (hydrogen-based) Energiron technology here in Western Australia.

“With a bit of hard work, we’re hoping to have the first plant of its kind in Australia operating in 2028.”

To be truly green steel, green hydrogen produced through electrolysis is introduced into a furnace as the reductant in place of coke used in traditional blast furnaces.

However the company’s first project is a $400 million electric arc steel recycling mill at Collie in the state’s South-West that will convert Western Australian scrap steel into rebar .

“Construction of the plant is expected to commence in late 2024, with early operations beginning in 2026.”

Following shortly thereafter is a $1.5 billion direct-reduced iron (DRI) plant in WA’s Mid West to convert Western Australian iron ore using green hydrogen to produce green HBI for export.

The plant is based on Danieli Group’s hydrogen DRI technology which can operate on both green hydrogen as well as natural gas, seamlessly transitioning between the two.

“This will allow the plant to begin operations on natural gas – producing just 30% of the CO2 of a conventional blast furnace – and transition to green hydrogen.”

The plant has an expected green H2 demand of up to 140,000 tonnes per year

Picture Green Steel of WA