WA hot briquetted iron plant gets EPA approval

Western Australia’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has announced it has recommended the approval of a hot briquetted iron (HBI) plant at Port Hedland. The $4 billion facility will produce iron pellets and hot briquette iron for export and will be developed by POSCO (Korea), Marubeni (Japan) and China Steel Corporation (Taiwan).

Located in the Boodarie Strategic Industrial Area (SIA), about 10 km south-west of Port Hedland, the project aims to decarbonise the steel manufacturing supply chain with production of low carbon hot briquetted iron for export to Asia.

EPA Chair Darren Walsh said the location of the proposal, as well as its use of advanced direct-reduction iron technology for processing iron ore, was consistent with good environmental practice.

“The EPA acknowledges that aggregating development proposals within SIAs offers improved environmental benefits by promoting resource efficiency and minimising impacts,” he said. “And the use of the direct-reduction iron technology will result in a significantly reduced rate of associated GHG emissions at start-up in comparison to a conventional blast furnace method fuelled by coking coal, with further reductions expected as hydrogen becomes available.”

The EPA’s report also noted the broader potential of the proposal to act as an enabler of the renewable hydrogen industry in Western Australia.

As a new facility with annual emissions over 100,000 tCO₂-e the proposal will be subject to the Safeguard Mechanism; however, the EPA has recommended a condition that requires periodic reporting on the implementation of carbon abatement measures consistent with the proponent’s commitments. The reporting would also be required to include the rate of hydrogen integration in the context of the status of the domestic hydrogen market.

Image: Iron briquettes. Credit: Port Hedland Iron