This Plan will examine how our industrial energy requirements can be supplied primarily from a 100 per cent renewable grid, and investigate replacement of chemical fossil carbon requirements.
Industry is our largest user of natural gas, which will need to be replaced with zero-emission options, such as high-temperature electric heating. Where appropriate, the feasibility of direct onsite renewable generation will also be assessed.
Most non-energy related industrial process emissions come from direct chemical reactions from steel production and for the calcination of lime to make Portland cement.
Approximately 5 Mt of steel is produced from blast furnaces located at Whyalla and Port Kembla. Blast furnaces are no longer the global preferred technology for new steelmaking as the industry moves to direct reduced iron (DRI), which is more compatible with utilisation of biomass for chemical carbon.
The Industrial Processes Plan will address the calcination and heat requirements of cement making and show the alternatives for structural and non-structural applications of Portland cement.
