Finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs
Purpose & Values
The drive for innovation and continuous improvement is at the heart of our purpose
Business Strategy
Climate change is at the heart of our business strategy
Innovation
Finding better ways to do things is in our DNA
We supply the metals and minerals used to help the world grow and decarbonise
Iron Ore
Iron ore is the primary raw material used to make steel
7 things the world will need for a low-carbon future
Wind, sun and water – what else do you need to make renewable energy work?
Sustainability – the expectation, not the exception
Shaping our aluminium product offering to meet demand for greener metals
Bringing to market materials critical to urbanisation and the transition to a low-carbon economy
Look inside a mine of the future
Our most intelligent mine yet is pioneering new mining technologies
Rincon Project
A long-life, low-cost and low-carbon lithium source
Simandou Project
The world’s largest untapped high-grade iron ore deposit
Providing materials the world needs in a responsible way
Sustainability Reporting 2023
As temporary custodians of the land where we operate, we are entrusted with accessing the world’s essential materials and making them available for society’s use
Climate Change
We’re targeting net zero emissions by 2050
Tailings
We’ve launched a new interactive map of our tailings facilities
We aim to deliver superior returns to our shareholders while safeguarding the environment and meeting our obligations to wider society
Reports 2023
Download our 2023 Annual Report, Climate Change Report, Sustainability Fact Book and Taxes Paid Report
Get the latest news, stories and updates
Things you can't live without
Our podcast discussing what needs to happen to create a sustainable future for the everyday items we have come to rely on
A new way to decarbonise steel
Tackling a global challenge
Tackling it all
A short documentary series with the Queensland Reds is inspiring working women everywhere
Discover more about life at Rio Tinto
Graduates and students
If you want to drive real change, we have just the place to do it
Empowering families with flexibility
Supporting new parents of any gender with equal access to parental leave
Available jobs
Join our team
A new process could offer a solution to reducing carbon emissions in iron and steel making.
BioIron™ uses raw biomass and microwave energy instead of coal to convert Pilbara iron ore to iron and has the potential to support low carbon dioxide (CO2) steel making. Our modelling shows that when combined with renewable energy, carbon capture and storage, BioIron™ could result in net negative emissions when turning iron ore into steel.
We have proven the process works at a small-scale pilot plant and now we’re planning to test it on a larger scale.
Making steel – the process of converting iron ore into iron and iron into steel – uses a lot of energy. Because of this – and the fact it’s used in so many things – steel making is responsible for around 8% of all global CO2 emissions. Most of these emissions are created during the industrial process transforming iron ore – the raw material – into metal. Decarbonising the way iron (and therefore steel) is made could make a significant contribution to reducing global CO2 emissions.
We worked with experts from the University of Nottingham, England and Metso Corporation (formerly known as Metso Outotec), a specialist in sustainable technologies, to prove BioIron™ works on a small scale, and now we’re scaling it up to a continuous pilot plant with a capacity of one tonne per hour.
In this new process, iron ore fines are mixed with raw biomass material (like agricultural waste) and heated using a combination of gas released by the biomass and high efficiency microwaves powered by renewable energy, turning the iron ore into metallic iron. One main attraction of the BioIronTM process is that it uses less than a third of the electricity needed by other new technologies currently being trialed such as those using hydrogen.
BioIronTM still releases CO2, however by using fast-growing plants, these emissions are offset by the CO2 absorbed during photosynthesis when the plants regrow. If you just used plants and didn’t regrow them, or if the plants grew slowly – like trees in old growth forests – the CO2 would stay in the atmosphere. So using a fast-growing biomass source is important.
Our process doesn’t, and can’t, use food such as sugar and corn. The parts you can’t eat – the straw, stalks and leaves – contain material called lignocellulose which has the type of carbon the process needs.
We don’t want to solve one problem and cause another. We know from talking to environmental groups that we need to consider the kind of biomass we use and how it’s produced and transported. So, we’re including this as part of our research and we’re also undertaking a benchmarking study of biomass certification processes. And through our discussions with environmental groups, as a first step we have ruled out sources that support the logging of old growth and High Conservation Value forests.
To produce iron and steel with a smaller carbon footprint, we’ll need many technological breakthroughs. But there’s no single and obvious pathway to produce low CO2 steel. BioIronTM is one of the most promising solutions Rio Tinto is developing being highly productive with our Pilbara iron ores, the world’s largest iron ore region.
Michael Buckley likes the heat. As a materials engineer, he’s spent his career focusing on the high-temperature processes by which iron ore is converted into iron and steel:
More
“Steel is everywhere. It builds our cities, our homes, our cars, everything. But the process of making steel from iron ore takes a lot of energy, it accounts for about 8% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. So, for over 10 years now, I’ve been trying to figure out how to decarbonise the process – I’m leading Rio’s scientific research into a new process for producing steel from Pilbara ores that would eliminate the use of coal, and potentially be a cost-effective way for the steel industry to cut its carbon emissions.
Our process uses raw biomass instead of coal. We briquette the biomass with the iron ore, preheat it and then zap it with microwaves – which can be powered by renewable energy – and this removes the oxygen from the iron ore, rapidly converting it into iron metal, which can then be turned into steel.
Raw biomass can be sourced from agricultural by-products, like wheat straw or canola stalks, or purpose grown energy crops on marginal agricultural land, or even micro and macroalgae. Importantly the process doesn’t – and can’t – use foodstuffs such as sugar and corn, and we would never use biomass that supports the logging of native forests.
BioIronTM still releases CO2, however by using fast-growing plants, these emissions are offset by the CO2 absorbed during photosynthesis when the plants regrow– and this is often referred to as “circular carbon”.
We know our process works in a small-scale pilot plant, and now we’re scaling it up further to a continuous pilot plant with a capacity of one tonne an hour.
It means a lot for our partners at the University of Nottingham as well to be taking it to this next stage. They’ve been with us on the journey all the way from those first two metal balls. It’s new territory for us all, including Metso Corporation, and we’re learning a lot and having a lot of fun.
It’s still early days and we have more work to do to prove it can work. But if we’re successful, it could play an important part in reducing carbon emissions across the steel industry.”
Theoretically there are other ways you can produce iron from iron ore without using coal. One is to use hydrogen to react with the oxygen. Another way is using electricity like in aluminium production. But we will need a variety of solutions to make sustainable steel, and this could be a good option for Pilbara iron ores. Through this research, we’re not only able to find a low CO2 way to process Pilbara iron ore, we can also contribute to an industry-wide challenge and help our customers reduce their emissions too.
How we process personal data provided or obtained through this website.
With the exception of the use of cookies, Rio Tinto generally does not seek to collect personal data through this website. However if you choose to provide personal data to Rio Tinto through this website (for example, by sending us an email), we will process that personal data to answer your query and if relevant, to manage our business relationship with you or your company. We won't process that personal data for other purposes except where required to meet our legal obligations or otherwise as authorised by law and notified to you.
If you choose to subscribe to our media releases or other communications, you can unsubscribe at any time (by following the instructions in the email or by contacting us).
With your consent, our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.
As some data privacy laws regulate IP addresses and other information collected through the use of cookies as personal data, Rio Tinto’s processing of such personal data needs to comply with its Data Privacy Standard (see Part 1 of our Privacy Policy), and also applicable data privacy laws.
With the exception of the use of cookies (explained below), Rio Tinto generally does not seek to collect personal data through this website. However if you choose to provide personal data to Rio Tinto through this website (for example, by sending us an email), we will process that personal data to answer your query and if relevant, to manage our business relationship with you or your company. We won't process that personal data for other purposes except where required to meet our legal obligations or otherwise as authorised by law and notified to you.
Part 1 of this Privacy Policy contains the Rio Tinto Data Privacy Standard, which provides an overview of Rio Tinto’s approach to personal data processing. There is additional information in the appendices to the Data Privacy Standard, including information about disclosures, trans-border data transfers, the exercise of data subject rights and how to make complaints or obtain further information relating to Rio Tinto’s processing of your personal data.
If you choose to subscribe to our media releases or other communications, you can unsubscribe at any time (by following the instructions in the email or by contacting us at digital.comms@riotinto.com).
With your consent, our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.
As some data privacy laws regulate IP addresses and other information collected through the use of cookies as personal data, Rio Tinto’s processing of such personal data needs to comply with its Data Privacy Standard (see Part 1 of this Privacy Policy), and also applicable data privacy laws.
These Cookies are used to provide a better user experience on the site, such as by measuring interactions with particular content or remembering your settings such as language or video playback preferences.
These Cookies allow us to analyse site usage in order to evaluate and improve its performance. They help us know how often you come to our site and when, how long you stay and any performance issues you experience whilst you are on our site.
These Cookies are used by advertising companies to inform and serve personalised ads to your devices based on your interests. These Cookies also facilitate sharing information with social networks or recording your interactions with particular ads.