TESTING OF AUSTRALIAN IRON ORES IN A HYDROGEN DIRECT FLASH SMELTING PROCESS
Join our webinar on HILT CRC Project RP1.009 Testing of Australian iron ores in a hydrogen direct flash smelting process.
This project leverages the significant iron ore processing expertise and industry network brought together by HILT CRC to accelerate the development of Calix’s ZESTY technology to deliver a low-carbon, cost-competitive and scalable technology for iron ore processing.
The key objectives are to identify the most prospective Australian iron ores for ZESTY processing and provide important process and product data to inform and de-risk the design of the ZESTY demonstration plant.
The goal of this project is to evaluate the potential of Calix’s ZESTY technology for processing a range of Australian iron ores to a low-carbon DRI product using their pilot facility in Bacchus Marsh to establish critical parameters, such as: (i) degree of metallisation; (ii) throughput and productivity; (iii) energy consumption; and (iv) yield.
The presentation will include results from pilot plant studies at Calix’s facility, laboratory test results and kinetic modelling of the process.
SPEAKERS
Professor Geoffrey Brooks, Swinburne University of Technology
Professor Geoff Brooks has published over 250 papers on fundamentals aspects of iron and steelmaking, has been invited to speak at many leading Universities around the world and has worked closely with steel companies in Europe, Asia and North America. He is currently the Joint Swinburne/CSIRO Professor of Sustainable Mineral Processing. Geoff has been previously an Associate Professor at McMaster University in Canada and a Senior Lecturer at University of Wollongong. In 2013, Geoff was awarded the prestigious John Elliott Lectureship Award by the AIST. He was also awarded the 2018 EPD Distinguished Lecturer by the TMS and the 2023 Bessemer Medal by the IOM3. He is a fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.
Dr Yun Xia, Calix
Dr Yun Xia manages research projects and leads test campaigns with the Calix fully electric pilot calciner. With a focus on pushing boundaries and driving innovation in the industry, he manages and oversees pilot tests from planning to execution. Past successes include leading multiple campaigns for the flash reduction of iron ore with H2, flash calcination of Spodumene, Alumina hydrate, Magnesite, Hydromagnesite, and Clay. Before joining Calix, he worked as a research fellow at Monash University, developing advanced membranes for direct lithium recovery from brine and seawater.
Dr Shabnam Sabah, Swinburne University of Technology
Dr Shabnam Sabah is a Postdoctoral Research Engineer at Swinburne University of Technology. She has worked on several HILT CRC projects, including ‘Prevention of sticking in H2 fluidised bed DRI production’, ‘Impact of hydrogen DRI on melting in an electric Furnace’, ‘Hydrogen Ironmaking: fluidised bed H₂DRI with Australian focus’, and ‘Testing of Australian Iron Ores in a hydrogen direct flash smelting process’. Dr Sabah completed her PhD on splashing behaviour of Basic Oxygen Furnace at Swinburne. She worked in the process industry after finishing her Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
Professor Gus Nathan, University of Adelaide and HILT CRC
Professor Gus Nathan is recognised globally for his research leadership in the renewable energy technologies for heavy industry. He is founding Director of University of Adelaide’s Centre for Energy Technology (CET), recipient of an ARC Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award, Fellow of both Engineers Australia and the Combustion Institute, chartered professional engineer, and KL Southerland Medallist from Engineers Australia (IEAust). As CET Director, he leads an interdisciplinary team of over 150 researchers from Engineering, Sciences, Business and Economics to drive development of innovative clean energy technology with strong potential to lower cost of CO2 mitigation.