Shell Energy Operations Pty has pulled out of its renewable hydrogen project with Australian steelmaker BlueScope, which is scheduled to be carried out at BlueScope's Port Kembla Steelworks in the Illawarra region of New South Wales in Australia, Kallanish notes.

BlueScope noted the news in a footnote of its ASX investor report and said that "BlueScope is continuing to work with a range of industry and research organisations on our [Illawarra hydrogen hub] plans, noting that Shell will now pursue its involvement as a supporting partner rather than lead partner."

According to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by Shell and BlueScope last December, the two companies will investigate designing, building and operating a pilot-scale 10 megawatt renewable hydrogen electrolyser. The initial project will test the use of green hydrogen in the blast furnace and verify that hydrogen can be used as a low-emission steelmaking pathway. The collaboration might also include different hydrogen applications, such as feeding a pilot direct reduced iron (DRI) plant (see Kallanish passim).

BlueScope will continue to work with other collaborators on low-emissions steelmaking at the Port Kembla Steelworks. It signed a cooperation agreement with Rio Tinto last November to research and design low-emissions processes and technologies for the steel value chain across iron ore processing, iron and steelmaking and related technologies. They have chosen two priority action areas, including hydrogen direct reduction and iron melting, and enhancing existing processes.

The first phase of the collaboration between BlueScope and Rio Tinto will be to determine the scale of a pilot plant to be based at the Port Kembla Steelworks, consisting of a hydrogen electrolyser, direct reduction equipment and a melter. 

Both companies have set goals to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and BlueScope looks to cut the emissions intensity of its global steelmaking operations by 12% by 2030.