APRIL, 2019 - ISSUE 10
SPECIAL
ISSUE: Renewables in Metals and Minerals Processing
CAN RENEWABLES MAKE IT IN THE METALS INDUSTRY? PATHWAYS TO DECARBONIZING THE HIGH ENERGY INTENSIVE MINERAL SECTOR
RENEWABLES, STORAGE AND HYDROGEN TO LEAD ON RESOURCE SECTOR’S ENERGY TRANSITION IN AUSTRALIA Major and mid-tier mining operators are investing in renewable energy and storage and beginning to explore the potential of hydrogen to play a role in affordable, reliable, and sustainable power. Ongoing cost declines for renewable energy, combined with rising energy costs and a growing emphasis on reducing carbon emissions, are driving new projects and partnerships between Australian resource companies and alternative energy providers.
18-20 at the Westin Perth. (SEE FOLLOWING ARTICLE). The possibilities of renewables in the decarbonization of high-temperature processing is also explored in this issue here. The E25 project is just one of the latest examples of mining and metals companies investing in renewables to control energy costs and address environmental concerns. Other major and mid-tier Australian mines have recently announced or finalized renewables investments including Gold Fields, IGO, and Image Resources. Lion One Metals also recently announced its investment in a solar-diesel hybrid at its Tuvatu Gold Project on the South Pacific island of Viti Levu in Fiji. In the last 6 months, more than a dozen similar projects have been announced or commissioned.
In minerals processing, ARENA (Australian Renewable Energy Agency) recently announced $490,000 in funding for WA-based Element 25 to explore whether electrolytic manganese metal can be produced with renewable energy, without reducing the quality of the finished product. This groundbreaking project will be presented by Element 25’s Executive Director Justin Brown at Energy As mining companies continue to invest in and Mines Australia Summit taking place June renewable energy, hydrogen is becoming a
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RENEWABLES STORAGE AND HYDROGEN
Credit: Ondrej Neduchal Unsplash
growing area of interest to support energy and sustainability goals. The technology has the potential to address energy and carbon goals including as a zero-emissions fuel for heavy haulage equipment and machinery; as a means of firming renewable electricity and providing back-up power generation, and as a source of high-grade heat for mineral processing. Major and mid-tier mining leaders are currently assessing the applicability and economics of hydrogen but there are, however, a variety of challenges that need to be addressed including infrastructure, costs, and safety standards. Commercialization of hydrogen technologies and hydrogen infrastructure development initiatives are rapidly gaining momentum in Australia and this could present significant opportunities for resource companies looking to explore the use of hydrogen for transport, power and processing applications.
Mining leaders are preparing to discuss these topics in depth and meet with renewables, storage, hydrogen and finance experts in Perth on June 18-20th. This is the 3rd annual Energy and Mines Australia Summit which focuses on addressing the opportunities and challenges for affordable, reliable and sustainable energy for mines. ARENA CEO Darren Miller is a keynote presenter at the Summit which also features a full-day on hydrogen applications for the mining sector. “Australia is a global centre for energy innovation in mining where we expect to see new milestones in terms of renewables integration and testing hydrogen applications,” Energy and Mines’ Director Adrienne Baker said. “This market is where we have seen the highest number of new renewables projects by mines over the last year and we expect that to continue with increased innovation in terms of the technologies deployed.”
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CAN RENEWABLES MAKE IT IN
Is it possible for metal makers to incorporate wind and solar without affecting quality or productivity? That’s what Perth-based Element 25 (E25) means to find out. In an industry first, E25 will test the extent to which renewable energy can be used to power electrowinning for producing Electrolytic Manganese Metal (EMM) at its Butcherbird development.
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RENEWABLES IN THE METALS INDUSTRY
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Rather than have the raw product exported and processed offshore using fossil fuel-based energy, the project might give birth to “a new industry in Australia where ore is processed right here using Australia’s low-cost renewable energy sources.” Justin Brown, Executive Director, E25
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RENEWABLES IN THE METALS INDUSTRY
The approach is a significant departure for the metals industry. Until now, metals have been made using a flat supply of electricity from traditional sources such as grid or hydroelectric power, but under a grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), E25 will be trialing variable power. Energy consulting firm Advisian identified a hybrid energy solution as the most cost-effective option and helped procure the grant. “It’s a new way of thinking really, and a different way of going about it. It’s going to need some engineering solutions to design a plant around a dynamic supply of electricity, which is not the traditional way of engineering these types of plants,” E25 Executive Director Justin Brown explains. “So it’s a bit cutting-edge in that regard, but the payoff is significant because the cost of deploying renewables in Australia and most parts of the world is now less than that for fossil fuels.”
POWERING BUTCHERBIRD The trial will roll out over the next 12 to 18 months at E25’s Butcherbird site in Western Australia, one of the country’s largest onshore manganese resources. Roughly a thousand kilometers north of Perth, the location boasts more than 180 million metric tonnes of near-surface manganese oxide ore in seven deposits. The project will produce high-purity EMM and manganese sulphate for use in specialty metals and lithium-ion batteries. While the Goldfields Gas Pipeline runs through the project, it doesn’t have infinite capacity. The energy mix will include wind and solar in addition to natural gas. At baseline, renewables are expected to make up at least 50% of the power mix. Wind will likely be the main renewable component, with solar boosting generation during the day when the wind is less intense.
“We’ve got a very, very large manganese resource at the project, and so, as we grow our production capacity, we would eventually hit limitations on gas supply,” Brown relates. “Wind and solar allow us to be independent of that, so that’s a big positive.”
TRIMMING COSTS Metals are recovered through electrowinning, the process of passing a current through a solution. Electrowinning manganese, copper, zinc, and other metals requires a tremendous amount of power. As a result, reducing energy costs was a primary driver for E25’s decision to use renewables. Wind and solar will also give E25 a degree of independence from gas prices, insulating the company from future price volatility. “When you’re making metals, power is the biggest part of the operating costs,” Brown explains. “Every cent that you can shave off of the kilowatt hour cost has a significant impact on the bottom line,” amounting to tens of millions of dollars.
TESTING VARIABLE POWER FOR ELECTROWINNING When the trial comes online, it will test the viability of Intermittent Dynamic Electrowinning (IDE), in which the electrowinning process must respond to changes in power generation. Beginning with a base case of 50% renewable generation, the trial will monitor variables that impact the electrowinning of metals, including temperature, voltage, current, pH, leach solution, concentrations, impurities, and other factors. The lab work will be performed at Murdoch University’s Extractive Metallurgy Division. The goal is to optimize the process plant to push the use of renewables above baseline. “We think we’re comfortably at 50-50 gas and
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renewables, and if we can push that as high as 80 or 90% renewables, that will be significant from a carbon intensity point of view,” Brown says. “The goal is to find the range within which we can vary those parameters to allow power from a variable source without impacting quality or the productivity of the plant.”
REDUCING CARBON INTENSITY Renewables have low penetration in the minerals processing sector—a situation that ARENA hopes this demonstration project will change. Its $490K grant to support the pilot studies will make up half of the total budget of $980K. If the studies find the optimum conditions for electrowinning with variable power, “the use of renewables could be expanded to other types of metal processing, increasing the opportunities for Australia to export renewable energy or emission-free resources to the world,” ARENA CEO Darren Miller stated in an announcement. It could also make electrowinning possible in remote areas of Australia and other countries that don’t have easy access to grid power. For its part, in addition to the cost savings, E25 is eyeing a competitive advantage in being the first metal maker to reduce its carbon intensity in this way. “We see in the not-too-distant future a world where having a low carbon intensity of your product will be a marketing advantage,” Brown states. “It’s not here just yet, but low carbon intensity will be a benefit soon.” Butcherbird’s pre-feasibility study is underway, and the trial is currently expected to be complete in the third quarter of 2020. If successful, it could pave the way for renewable energy in the metals industry and increase downstream metals processing in Australia, ultimately boosting other areas of the economy. “Australia is currently the third largest producer of manganese ore, and if the project shows that renewables are a viable option, it could help to revolutionize the way metals are produced,” Miller states. “Rather than have the raw product exported and processed offshore using fossil fuel-based energy, the project might give birth to “a new industry in Australia where ore is processed right here using Australia’s low-cost renewable energy sources.”
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RENEWABLES IN THE METALS INDUSTRY
“We see in the not-too-distant future a world where having a low carbon intensity of your product will be a marketing advantage,” Justin Brown, Executive Director, E25
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Big industrial facilities such as blast furnaces need massive amounts of high temperature, high quality process heat, and they need it 24/7
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DECARBONIZING THE HIGH ENERGY
PATHWAYS TO DECARBONIZING THE HIGH EN E R G Y IN T E N S I V E MINERAL SECTOR Professor Gus Nathan, Director, Centre for Energy Technology Institute for Mineral and Energy Resources The University of Adelaide
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High-temperature processes (greater than 800oC) are widely used in the mineral sector to produce materials vital to the global economy. These processes are driven more by heat than electricity and operate with high volumes and low-profit margins from capital-intensive plant in trade-exposed markets. These features create unique challenges and unique opportunities for the sector as it seeks pathways to decarbonization. In order to explore the emergence of new technologies, and foster new opportunities, the inaugural High-Temperature Minerals Processing (HiTeMP) Forum convened in September 2018 bringing together 100+ industry, research and government stakeholders from around the world to discuss how to transform energy-intensive high temperature processes particularly in iron/ steel, alumina and cement/lime production. OPPORTUNITIES BY SECTOR The pathways toward CO2-free products vary significantly from one industry to another, although some technologies can be transferred between industries. The HiTeMP Forum identified key pathways for iron/steel making and cement/lime & alumina, which are responsible for some 8% and 7%, respectively, of global CO2 emissions. - Iron and Steel The most plausible first steps to further decarbonization are the replacement of the coking coal needed to reduce iron ore. Prime candidates for this are hydrogen and biomass-sourced coke from wood, and carbon capture and storage/utilization (CCS/U).
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DECARBONIZING THE HIGH ENERGY
The use of hydrogen in commercial blast furnaces has already been successfully demonstrated, so the key barrier is the cost of CO2-free hydrogen production. Researchers at the University of Adelaide are developing technologies based on solar energy with the aim of producing “$1 hydrogen�, meaning hydrogen with a production cost of $1/kg. The good news is that the tide is beginning to turn in Europe, with Swedish company Hybrit planning hydrogen-based steel production from renewable energy, with a pre-feasibility study recently released. The major barrier is the need to develop and demonstrate technologies that reduce the cost of production. Other challenges include the need to develop iron ore pellets to meet ironmaking requirements, and for the steelmaking process to meet required steel grades in the new processing route. - Alumina There are no real technical barriers to the implementation of commercially available Concentrating Solar Thermal (CST) technologies to the digestion stage of the Bayer alumina process because their temperatures are compatible. The economic viability of this path is presently being evaluated and, if implemented, will achieve a significant reduction in emissions.
Fuels are likely to play a very important part in the industrial energy mix for many years to come. The challenge is to make them carbon neutral, or even carbon negative
The development and demonstration of direct solar thermal heat for the higher temperature calcination stage is proceeding in parallel. Solar fuels, such as hydrogen and syngas, generated from solar and natural gas or biomass can contribute in the medium term, with 100% renewable fuels in the longer term. Syngas has already been used as a commercial fuel for calcination, while hydrogen has not. Further work is
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Around 15% of global CO2 emissions come from just the iron, steel, cement and alumina sectors
needed to de-risk the use of hydrogen, although no significant technical barriers are anticipated. - Cement and Lime In addition to its current use of municipal waste to produce heat, the Cement and Lime sector could also benefit from the development of high-temperature CST heat to reduce carbon emissions for the energy-intensive calcination step of cement production. In cement manufacturing there is an additional source of emissions: CO2 released from the calcination process itself. Around 70% of the CO2 emissions derives from the conversion of calcium carbonate (limestone) to calcium oxide, releasing CO2 from the limestone irrespective of the source of energy. Thus, it is likely that carbon capture, stor-
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age and/or utilization (CCS/U) will also be needed to decarbonize this process. One enabler for this is oxy-fuel combustion, which is commercially available. Other emerging technologies include chemical looping combustion and photocatalytic CO2 to fuel conversion. Nevertheless, the temperature of calcination is also well suited to CST, and several technologies are under development for this process. OTHER KEY TECHNOLOGIES IDENTIFIED A number of workshopped discussions were held at HiTeMP, with the greatest input from “industry pull” and “innovation push”. The key technologies with the greatest potential to achieve low-cost renewable energy driven heat in the iron/steel, alumina and cement/lime industries are as follows:
DECARBONIZING THE HIGH ENERGY
THE NEXT STEPS Strong incentives exist to drive the transition toward net-zero CO2 high-temperature minerals processing. New markets are already emerging in certified low-carbon products, the cost of renewable energy is falling, and of course, company Solar/green energy fuels, such as hy- shareholders are demanding a reduction drogen and syngas: New technologies in carbon liability. are needed to produce solar hydrogen or syngas at costs competitive with fossil fu- However, while industry is already investels. A series of new technologies are under ing to lower emissions intensity through development seeking to meet this need. increased efficiency, no technologies are yet commercially available for high-temRefuse-derived fuels: These fuels are perature processing with net-zero emiswell established in industries such as ce- sions at a competitive price. ment and lime, whose long residence time and potential to adsorb gas phase species Further government-industry-research co-inenables potentially harmful products to be vestment is needed to continue technology managed safely. They are also a poten- development and to demonstrate cost-eftial feedstock for more valuable products, fective and reliable operations at sufficient such as plastics and liquid fuels, via solar scale for the new technologies to be taken gasification and other processes. up commercially without subsidy. Direct use of concentrated solar thermal (CST) heat: Technologies are under development with a realistic expectation to supply heat at 800 – 1000oC for AUD$10/GJ, which will be competitive with natural gas.
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