"There is no bigger idea than Project Iron Boomerang, a plan to connect northern Queensland’s coalfields to northern Western Australia’s iron ore reserves with a railway that transports the minerals both ways, supplying steel mills at both ends."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWNVM5Q01ro&feature=youtu.be

Wouldnt it be cheaper and easier to work out ways to not need coal to make steel?

https://theconversation.com/albanese-says-we-cant-replace-steelmaking-coal-but-we-already-have-green-alternatives-126599

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Sep 8^th, 2020 at 9:54am:

Wouldnt it be cheaper and easier to work out ways to not need coal to make steel? https://theconversation.com/albanese-says-we-cant-replace-steelmaking-coal-but-we-already-have-green-alternatives-126599

Thats like saying.
"why not make steel without iron ore"

Coal is a critical part of the process.

My concept was working with 'renewable' energies and North West Shelf gas....

Not sure on the actual figures, but many seem to think that coal is more 'energy efficient' - leaving aside the issue of pollution - more joules per weight...

Some steels require carbon added.... but the actual smelting process can be heated in any way - the most 'efficient' heat-wise (in isolation) being coal.  It can be done by electricity but then you need to produce the electricity.... that's where 'renewables' might come in... gas - she's pretty hot and easy to turn on and off...

Valkie wrote on Sep 8^th, 2020 at 10:33am:

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Sep 8th, 2020 at 9:54am: Wouldnt it be cheaper and easier to work out ways to not need coal to make steel? https://theconversation.com/albanese-says-we-cant-replace-steelmaking-coal-but-we-already-have-green-alternatives-126599 Thats like saying. "why not make steel without iron ore" Coal is a critical part of the process.

Yet the article talks about alternatives, did you bother reading it?

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Sep 8^th, 2020 at 11:09am:

Valkie wrote on Sep 8th, 2020 at 10:33am: Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Sep 8th, 2020 at 9:54am: Wouldnt it be cheaper and easier to work out ways to not need coal to make steel? https://theconversation.com/albanese-says-we-cant-replace-steelmaking-coal-but-we-already-have-green-alternatives-126599 Thats like saying. "why not make steel without iron ore" Coal is a critical part of the process. Yet the article talks about alternatives, did you bother reading it?

We can replace the coal and coke with rubber tyres that would otherwise end up in landfill, as shown by University of NSW’s Professor Veena Sahajwalla, who dubbed this process “green steel”.
....
Here’s how it works. Direct reduction removes the oxygen in ore, which produces metallic iron. The chemical reaction that drives this process uses carbon monoxide and hydrogen, sourced from greenhouse gases – reformed natural gas, syngas or coal.

But there’s no reason these fossil fuels can’t be entirely replaced with renewable hydrogen in the near future.

Dominique Hes
Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Architecture, University of Melbourne

Disclosure statement
Dominique Hes is affiliated with Beyond Zero Emissions



So rubber tyres or hydrogen, then.



Tyres? How are they made?

Er... well....

Today tires consist of about 19 percent natural rubber and 24 percent synthetic rubber, which is a plastic polymer. The rest is made up of metal and other compounds. Producing tires still has monumental environmental impacts, ranging from continued deforestation to the climate-harming fossil fuels used to make synthetic rubbers to the assembly process. Modern car tires require about 7 gallons of oil to make, while truck tires take 22 gallons.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/09/tires-unseen-plastic-polluter/#:~:text=By%201931%20the%20U.S.%20chemical,of%20metal%20and%20other%20compounds.


"Sustainable architecture" lecturers for ya, eh? Beyond Zero Emissions.