MAN0102HIL – Hydrogen Steelmaking (Swinburne University of Technology)

Description

Estimated Time: 1 hour

Language: English

Summary of the lecture

Join Professor Geoff Brooks for an insightful webinar exploring hydrogen steelmaking technologies to support the decarbonisation of the iron and steel industry toward Net Zero targets.

Professor Geoff Brooks (Swinburne University/CSIRO) provides a clear overview of primary production routes and emerging green alternatives, examining the thermodynamic shift of replacing carbon with hydrogen as a reducing agent. The session highlights key technical and economic challenges—including scaling hydrogen production, managing unit costs, and processing low-grade ores—alongside complementary pathways such as molten oxide electrolysis, biomass substitution, and carbon capture (CCU). Ideal for industry professionals, researchers, and policymakers seeking practical insights into sustainable steelmaking.

Learn about low-carbon, hydrogen-based steelmaking from Professor Geoff Brooks and colleagues at Swinburne University of Technology.

This video was created with support from HILT CRC by the School of Engineering at Swinburne University of Technology in 2026. It was produced by Antoine Hobbs and Dr Shanti Krishnan under the supervision of Associate Professor Max Schleser, with content contributions and presentation by Professor Geoff Brooks and Dr Shabnam Sabah.

This presentation is part of the HILT CRC webinar series.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, participants will be able to:

Evaluate the contribution of global steelmaking emissions to the need for industrial decarbonisation by 2050.
Differentiate blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace, electric arc furnace, and direct reduced iron routes by their inputs, energy requirements, and carbon footprints.
Analyse the reactor heat-balance implications of replacing carbon with hydrogen during iron reduction.
Assess the technical and economic constraints affecting green-hydrogen steelmaking, including production scale, cost, and iron-ore quality.
Compare molten oxide electrolysis, biomass or biochar substitution, and carbon capture and utilisation as complementary steelmaking decarbonisation pathways.

Speakers Introduction

Professor Geoff Brooks
Swinburne University of Technology

Professor Brooks is a Professor in the School of Engineering. Since completing his PhD in 1994, Professor Brooks has been an Senior Lecturer at the University of Wollongong (1993-2000), an Associate Professor at McMaster University (2000-2004), a Senior Princpal Research Scientist at CSIRO (2004-2006) and a Professor at Swinburne since 2006.

Since joining Swinburne, Professor Brooks has been the Associate Dean of Research, Head of Mathematics at Swinburne and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Future Manufacturing). He currenty co-ordinates research for Extra Terrestrial processing at the University and a Program Leader in the ARC Steel Innovation Hub. He has also been active in recent years working with Physicists on Dark Matter detection research. Professor Brooks has published over 250 papers on fundamental aspects of steelmaking, aluminium production and materials processing in general. He has won significant international awards from the TMS, AIST, ASM and IOM3 for his contribution to metallurgical processing. Professor Brooks is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (UK).

Dr. Shabnam Sabah
Postdoctoral Research Engineer at Swinburne University of Technology

Dr. Shabnam Sabah is a Postdoctoral Research Engineer at Swinburne University of Technology. Presently, she is working in the HILT CRC project titled “Prevention of sticking in H2 fluidised bed DRI production” and “De-risking of Electric Smelting Furnaces for Australian Ores”. She is also the project leader of “De-risking Flash Reduction of Australian Iron ore”. She has previously worked in HILT CRC research projects such as impact of hydrogen DRI on melting in an electric Furnace, hydrogen ironmaking with fluidised bed, hydrogen direct flash smelting process. She completed her PhD on splashing behaviour of Basic Oxygen Furnace from Swinburne. She has worked in process Industries after finishing her Bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).