Fortescue sees hydrogen vindication in Forrest travelsBrad ThompsonReporterJul 6, 2021 – 1.44pmSaveShareFortescue Metals Group says it has produced both green iron and green cement in trials that are part of the company’s ambitions to become a major player in green energy and at the same time slash carbon emissions from iron ore mining.The company said on Tuesday that it had also hit deadlines around trials using batteries, green ammonia and green hydrogen across its iron ore mining operations, including in running locomotives and powering drill rigs, haul trucks and ships.The June 30 trial deadlines were set in March when chairman Andrew Forrest doubled down on his ambitions to turn the company green by declaring its mining operations would be carbon neutral by 2030.The Forrest vision involves the company becoming a major producer of green hydrogen and green ammonia on top of carbon-neutral iron ore operations. Dr Forrest has also talked up Australia’s potential to become a major supplier of green steel and said Fortescue will build a green steel pilot plant.The Fortescue board is set to make a final investment decision before December 31 on its wholly owned subsidiary, Fortescue Future Industries (FFI), building a 250-megawatt green hydrogen plant at Bell Bay in northern Tasmania.FFI chief executive Julie Shuttleworth said Fortescue had been “mulling over hydrogen for more than a decade” and became “confident that hydrogen could be stored and transported as a zero-carbon fuel several years ago”.AdvertisementFortescue was more convinced than ever about the merits of green energy and its potential in manufacturing on the back of two international expeditions led by Dr Forrest in the past 12 months, Ms Shuttleworth said.“We set out to test the hypothesis that there was sufficient 100 per cent renewable green energy, hydrogen, ammonia and industrial manufacturing potential, for products such as green cement, green fertiliser, green iron and steel, to fully satisfy the world’s needs,” she said.“As a result (of the Forrest-led expeditions), the company has confirmed that hypothesis.”One of the trial decarbonisation projects being run by FFI has produced high-purity green iron from Fortescue iron ore, and waste from the green iron process has been combined with other materials to make green cement.Ms Shuttleworth said the decarbonisation project team had achieved “immense” results.FFI has set up a facility at Hazelmere in Perth where it is trialling technology in hydrogen, ammonia and battery power for trains, ship engines, haul trucks and drill rigs.The trials have included successful combustion of ammonia in a locomotive fuel and construction of a combustion-testing device for large ship engines.FFI has designed an iron ore carrier powered by green ammonia and is testing batteries for use in Fortescue haul trucks as well as designing hydrogen-powered haul trucks.Brad Thompson writes across business and politics from Western Australia for The Australian Financial Review. Brad is based in our Perth bureau. Connect with Brad on Twitter. Email Brad at bradthompson@copyright link
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