The Australian miner mentioned its subsidiary Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) efficiently produced high-purity iron of 97% Fe from Fortescue’s iron ores with out utilizing coking coal and at low temperatures.
The know-how, it famous, nonetheless must be examined at scale and confirmed economically viable.
Its subsidiary Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) efficiently produced high-purity iron of 97% Fe from Fortescue’s iron ores with out utilizing coking coal and at low temperatures.
Fortescue mentioned it had additionally begun trials to make use of waste from this “inexperienced iron” course of to provide cement that has a lower-carbon footprint.
Chief government Elizabeth Gaines mentioned the corporate was rapidly shifting from being a serious client of fossil gas to a prime clear and renewable power exporter.
Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest, Fortescue’s founder and main shareholder, had predicted the world’s conversion to inexperienced power and merchandise would happen “virtually violently”. He had quoted forecasts that assumed hydrogen produced from renewable power would solely turn out to be commercially viable within the 2030s.
As we speak’s announcement counsel these outlooks should be reviewed.
“We got down to take a look at the speculation that there was adequate 100% renewable inexperienced power, hydrogen, ammonia and industrial manufacturing potential for merchandise reminiscent of inexperienced cement, inexperienced fertilizer, inexperienced iron and metal to completely glad the world’s want,” Gaines mentioned. “We’ve got confirmed our speculation.”
Pending determination
Fortescue mentioned it remained dedicated to assembly and beating its goal of turning into carbon impartial by 2030.
The corporate’s climate change strategy, nevertheless, solely considers Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse emissions — these straight generated by a corporation, in addition to oblique emissions from the facility it buys to run its operations.
Scope 3 emissions, brought on when an organization’s product is utilized, processed or shipped to prospects, are but to be addressed by Fortescue, which locations the corporate behind BHP and Rio Tinto’s latest pledges.
Fortescue board is because of make a ultimate funding determination by 12 months finish on FFI constructing a 250-megawatt inexperienced hydrogen plant at Bell Bay, in northern Tasmania.
FFI CEO Julie Shuttleworth mentioned Fortescue had been “mulling over hydrogen for greater than a decade” and have become “assured that hydrogen may very well be saved and transported as a zero-carbon gas a number of years in the past”.
