Ever heard of an Indian Woman named Veena Sahajwalla who turned used tyres to liquid steel?
Veena Sahajwalla an engineering and science professor from University of New South Wales has pioneered world's first 'green steel' technology at a time when the burning of coal to get steel products is turning out to be a threat since the country is coming close to the end of availability of this non-renewable resource.
Veena Sahajwalla has pioneered world's first 'green steel' technology where in extraction of elements such as hydrogen and solid carbon from waste rubber to make metal is possible without the use of coal. instead the green steel production relies on the method to turn rubber tyres to steel.
The innovation is also known as Polymer Injection Technology which has the potential to make metallurgical coal no longer a necessity in extracting metal from used end-of-life tyres.
"Oh, absolutely. Absolutely," she said. "We are certainly looking at a future where the dependency on coal for steel making is completely eliminated. So the goal very much is to say that we want to get to zero coal and coke in the process of making steel."
China has been a long time trading partner and just last year, they purchased metallurgical coal worth $10billion from Australia as they dependent on the old blast furnace which requires fossil fuel to function.
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Considering the fact that coal is not an abundant resource: "Where will the tipping point be for many countries like China and others?",' Professor Sahajwalla said.
According to Prof. Veena Sahajwalla, most of the steel production facilities around the world use coal in a blast furnace to get liquid steel instead of tyres. However, with the introduction of green steel technology, we could replace this old-fashioned method of heating coal to get steel
"A traditional blast furnace will always have coke not just from a heat point of view but coke also provides a structure - it is a solid product that sits inside a furnace," Professor Sahajwalla said.
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'The traditional coke that is used as a source in a furnace, we're talking about replacing that coke with, of course, waste tyres. The science shows that it works."
Newcastle mining materials supplier Molycop, a former division of Arrium, uses green steel technology to make replacement metal wheels for Waratah trains servicing Sydney, Newcastle, the Central Coast, the Blue Mountains, and Wollongong.
Michael Parker, the company's president, said that its manufacturing facility, combines coking coal and oil with tyre rubber and uses solar energy to power an electric ark furnace. according to him, it has resulted in the production of 80 per cent less carbon emissions than traditional steel making process. The green steel method has indeed significantly reduced the need for coal in steel production however, it has not completely eliminated it.
