Greener steel on the horizon
Cleaning up the steelmaking process with low-value biochar is in the sights of this NSW start up.
Australian startup BioCarbon has secured $4.8m funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to scale up its NSW facility.
The funds will support a shift from pilot trials to the industrial production of GreenChar, a product developed from low-value biomass to help decarbonise the steelmaking process.
The investment targets one of the most carbon-intensive sectors of the global economy, the steel industry, which experts say accounts for about 8% of total global C02 emissions.
It also reflects a broader national strategy to accelerate the transition to lower-emission metals and modernise heavy industrial processes.
Specifically developed for use in Electric Arc Furnaces, BioCarbon says GreenChar aims to address growing industry demand for ‘green steel’ from sectors such as automotive and construction.
Electric Arc Furnaces are already delivering a more circular steelmaking process for many manufacturers worldwide by using renewable electricity to melt scrap metal. But according to BioCarbon, the furnaces still rely on the use of high-emission metallurgical coke to provide chemical energy and protect the furnace.
"Historically, the so-called green premium has been a major barrier to industrial decarbonisation."
BioCarbon says GreenChar can serve as a ‘drop-in’ replacement for this fossil-based coke, an achievement that earned the company a spot on the 2025 XPRIZE Carbon Removal Top 100.
“A key objective of the project is to demonstrate that renewable carbon can be supplied at cost parity with traditional metallurgical coke,” the company says.
“Historically, the so-called green premium has been a major barrier to industrial decarbonisation.”
BioCarbon says GreenChar has already been trialled successfully at scale, where it replaced 100 per cent of the charge coke used in an Electric Arc Furnace to produce about 3,000 tonnes of steel.
It says the trial also demonstrated that GreenChar was able to maintain metallurgical integrity without demanding significant plant modifications.
BioCarbon said a portion of its future GreenChar output would be reserved for industry partners wanting to validate its performance within their own facilities.
BioCarbon says its GreenChar product made from low-value biomass is a high-performance, ‘drop-in’ replacement for the fossil-based charge coke used in steelmaking. According to the company, GreenChar maintains metallurgical integrity in steelmaking without requiring substantial plant modifications. The company is now scaling its proprietary pyrolysis and consolidation processes into a commercial facility capable of continuous operation. It says successful trials have demonstrated GreenChar's ability to replace charge coke in an Electric Arc Furnace following several years of technology development and validation.
