BioCarbon secures funding to commercialise biochar coke

Australian climate technology company BioCarbon has been awarded $4.8 million in funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to support the development of its first commercial-scale project in Bulahdelah, NSW. The funding represents a major milestone in BioCarbon’s transition from pilot operations to industrial-scale production and supports the replacement of traditional, high‍-‍emission metallurgical coke with its net‍-‍zero GreenChar in steelmaking.

The Bulahdelah facility will produce renewable carbon products for use as charge carbon in electric arc furnace steelmaking, providing a practical pathway to reduce emissions in existing steel operations. The project is supported under ARENA’s National Industrial Transformation Program and aligns with national efforts to accelerate the transition to low emissions metals.

A key objective of the project is to demonstrate that renewable carbon can be supplied at cost parity with traditional metallurgical coke. Historically, the so-called green premium has been a major barrier to industrial decarbonisation.

While the majority of the plant’s output will be allocated to primary operations, BioCarbon has confirmed that a dedicated portion of production will be made available to selected industry partners for exclusive trials. This will enable steelmakers and metallurgical operators to validate the performance of GreenChar within their own facilities, supporting future supply partnerships and broader adoption.

The project builds on several years of technology development and validation, scaling BioCarbon’s proprietary pyrolysis and consolidation processes into a commercial facility capable of continuous operation.

BioCarbon’s engineering advances in pyrolysis and consolidation allow GreenChar to deliver a net-zero carbon profile at the same cost in use as fossil-based coke. This removes economic risk for steelmakers, enabling emissions reduction without increasing operational expenditure.

BioCarbon’s technology has already been proven at scale, with GreenChar successfully replacing 100% of charge coke in electric arc furnaces during trials that produced approximately 3000 tonnes of steel. These trials demonstrated that GreenChar is a high-performance, drop-in replacement that maintains metallurgical integrity without requiring significant plant modifications.

“The support from ARENA enables us to move beyond our pilot operations and into commercial reality,” said Chad Sheppeard, CEO of BioCarbon. “Between our successful 3000-tonne steel trials and thousands of hours of incident-free pilot plant operation, we are demonstrating that GreenChar is a viable, high-performance alternative to fossil coke that the steel industry is ready to adopt.”

Image credit: BioCarbon