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Byproducts key to charcoal fuel viability

A new pyrolysis technology could expand charcoal production in Australia tenfold, and generate a range of valuable byproducts.

The new technology aims to help the iron and steel industry and other metal extraction industries compete in a carbon-constrained economy.

“The easiest way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to replace the fossil carbon with renewable carbon that can be readily absorbed into metal extraction industries, using the same technologies and equipment they have now,” says Dr Alex Deev, a principle research scientist with CSIRO.

The new process CSIRO is developing may be capable of producing charcoal volumes equivalent to 30 per cent or more of the annual industry coke consumption and will also capture valuable byproducts.

BlueScope Steel and OneSteel are industry partners on the project.

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