This program examines the opportunity for Australia to realise a new high-value export stream in the form of renewable metal refining, with emphasis on refining of iron ore to produce ‘green steel’. We evaluate the full value chain including refining processes that use hydrogen instead of the predominant metallurgical coal (which Australia also exports in world-leading quantities). The work spans process engineering, physics, techno-economics, macroeconomics, policy and urban planning.

Journal Articles

• Bima Satritama, Chris Cooper, Dian Fellicia, Mark Pownceby, Suresh Palanisamy, Andrew Ang, Reiza Mukhlis, John Pye, Alireza Rahbari, Geoff Brooks, M. Akbar Rhamdhani, Hydrogen Plasma for Low-Carbon Extractive Metallurgy: Oxides Reduction, Metals Refining, and Wastes Processing, Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy (August 2024) 
• M. Shahabuddin, Alireza Rahbari, Shabnam Sabah, Geoffrey Brooks, John Pye, M. Akbar Rhamdhani, Process modelling for the production of hydrogen-based direct reduced iron in shaft furnaces using different ore grades, Ironmaking & Steelmaking: Processes, Products and Applications, (May 2024) 
• Shabnam Sabah, M. Shahabuddin, Alireza Rahbari, Geoffrey Brooks, John Pye, M. Akbar Rhamdhani, Effect of gangue on CO2 emission for different decarbonisation pathways, Ironmaking & Steelmaking: Processes, Products and Applications, Volume 51, Issue 4, (April 2024) 
• Louise Bardwell, Alireza Rahbari,Ye Wang, Martin Amidy, John Pye, Piggery waste to sustainable fuels via indirect supercritical water gasification and membrane reforming at 600 °C: a techno-economic assessment, Sustainable Energy & Fuels, (March 2024)
• Alireza Rahbari, Armando Fontalvo, John Pye, Solar-thermal beneficiation of iron ore: System-level dynamic simulation and techno-economic optimisation, Applied Thermal Engineering, Volume 223, (March 2023) 
• Paul Burke, Fiona Beck, Emma Aisbett, Kenneth Baldwin, Matthew Stocks, John Pye, Mahesh Venkataraman, Janet Hunt, Xuemei Bai, Contributing to regional decarbonization: Australia’s potential to supply zero-carbon commodities to the Asia-Pacific. Energy, Volume 248, 123563 (June 2022) 
• Mahesh Venkataraman, Zsuzsanna Csereklyei, Emma Aisbett, Alireza Rahbari, Frank Jotzo, Michael Lord, John Pye, Zero-carbon steel production: The opportunities and role for Australia, Energy Policy, Volume 163 (April 2022) 
• Alireza Rahbari, Ali Shirazi, Mahesh B Venkataraman, John Pye, Solar fuels from supercritical water gasification of algae: Impacts of low-cost hydrogen on reformer configurations, Applied Energy, Volume 288, 116620 (April 2021) 

Short articles

• John Pye, Alireza Rahbari, Emma Aisbett, Frank Jotzo, Zsuzsanna Csereklyei, Red dirt, yellow sun, green steel: how Australia could benefit from a global shift to emissions-free steel, The Conversation, (March 2022) 

Submissions

• Emma Aisbett, Fiona Beck, Paul Burke, Frank Jotzo, Bin Lu, John Pye, Brad Riley, Ken Baldwin and Dharani Sabba, Submission to Australia's transition to a green energy superpower inquiry (December 2022) 
• Emma Aisbett, Fiona Beck, John Pye, Llewelyn Hughes, Lily O'Neill, Matthew Stocks, Presentation to Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth, Parliament House (August 2020) 
• Emma Aisbett, Ken Baldwin, Fiona Beck, Llewelyn Hughes, Penelope Howarth, John Pye, Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth (August 2020) 
• Emma Aisbett, Fiona Beck, Wenting Cheng, Penelope Howarth, Llewelyn Hughes, Frank Jotzo, Thomas Longden, John Pye, Elizabeth Ratnam, Igor Skryabin, Matt Stocks and Lee White, Ken Baldwin, Submission to Technology Investment Roadmap (July 2020) 
• Fiona Beck, Tory Bridges, Paul Burke, Kylie Catchpole, Llewelyn Hughes, Frank Jotzo, Yun Liu, James Prest, John Pye, Igor Skryabin, Matthew Stocks, Robin Purchase, Mahesh Venkataraman, Submission to National Hydrogen Strategy Discussion Paper (March 2019)