Experts come together at the International Symposium for Sustainable Cokemaking and Ironmaking

Wednesday, 15 February 2023

World-leading researchers and industry recently joined together at the International Symposium for Sustainable Cokemaking and Ironmaking to discuss technological developments to decarbonise the steel industry.

The Centre for Ironmaking Materials Research (CIMR), led by Professor Tom Honeyands and Dr Arash Tahmasebi, received support from the ACARP, BHP, Hatch, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, and the University to host the event over two days at the Newcastle City Hall last week. With 130 participants (20 international), including 50 presenters, the symposium was very successful in bringing together the global experts in the field. The symposium builds on and expands upon the successful partnership between CIMR and its industry partners in the resources and steel sectors.

The Iron and Steel Technology Roadmap, released in 2020, states the steel industry is responsible for approximately 8% of global energy demand and 7% of CO2 emissions.

With global demand for steel projected to increase by more than a third through to 2050, the Symposium comes at a crucial time. Alternate processes need to be developed and implemented to reduce the environmental impact of this essential sector.  During the two-day symposium, global experts discussed technological breakthroughs to decrease the carbon intensity of current ironmaking technologies, as well as the progress in development of alternate green steel production routes,

Keynote speakers included Dr Paul Zulli, Director of the Steel Research Hub from the University of Wollongong, Dr Sangho Li, Senior Vice President of POSCO Technical Research Labs and Jeanne Els, Senior Consultant for Hatch. Professor Johannes Schenk from Montanuniversitat Leoben and Jan van der Stel, Knowledge Group Leader Ironmaking, Tata Steel, gave updates on the progress towards decarbonisation in Europe. International industry and academic expertise from Austria, Netherlands, China, Korea, and Japan also contributed valuable knowledge on metallurgy and research commercialisation.

A trip to NIER was also offered as part of the Symposium, where Professor Paul Dastoor introduced the Institute’s objective of delivering solutions for global challenges in the priority areas of energy, resources, food and water. The tour featured a number of NIER Centres, including the ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals, the Priority Research Centre for Frontier Energy Technologies and Utilisation team, and a visit to the pilot plant of hosted company, Mineral Carbonation International. Dr Tahmasebi gave an overview of the CIMR's capabilities in cokemaking and ironmaking research with a tour of their Burden Lab. Dr Tahmasebi explained some of the centres’ work that focuses on optimising the sintering stage of ironmaking, a process in which loose, fine particles are converted into a solid coherent mass by heat and/or pressure, as well as increasing the fundamental knowledge of the coal to coke transformation.

BlueScope Steel, one of our industry partners, also hosted a group of 26 participants for a tour of their Port Kembla Steelworks. The tour included visits to their cokemaking, sintering, blast furnace and steelmaking operations.

The Symposium and tours provided a greatly needed opportunity for world leaders in the cokemaking and ironmaking fields to collaborate on creating a more sustainable resource future.

A group shot of speakers and attendees at the ISSCI

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