Gus Nathan is a Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Adelaide, the inaugural Energy Professional of the Year from the Australian Institute of Energy, SA, a Fellow of the Combustion Institute, a recipient of a Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award from the Australian Research Council and an ATSE KH Sutherland medallist. He was the bid leader for, and is now the Research Director of, the national Heavy Industry Low-carbon Transition Cooperative Research Centre, the HILT CRC. He has led the development of six technology platforms, three of which are in ongoing commercial use within high temperature processes such as iron pellets, cement and lime kilns and alumina calciners, while three are currently being upscaled to decarbonise heavy industry. He has worked closely with industry throughout his career and is the founding chair of the international High Temperature Minerals Processing (HiTeMP) Forum. He has published some 300 papers in international journals, 250 in peer reviewed conferences, 50 commissioned reports and 13 patents.

Prospective pathways to net-zero iron and steel products from Australian ores

Prospective pathways to lower the cost of the production of future products for emerging markets for net-zero iron and steel, will be presented. Recent results from the Heavy Industry Low-carbon Transition Cooperative Research Centre will be synthesised to explain how common challenges between the iron/steel, alumina/aluminium and cemeKeynont/lime industries are being leveraged to accelerate technology development and increase circularity for future low-carbon production of their products. Our research has identified new potential opportunities from several alternative types of emerging beneficiation and direct reduction technologies, together with electric smelter furnaces, which can potentially be configured in various combinations that are tailored to suit the wide range of properties of different grades of Australian goethite, hematite and magnetite ores. Further details will then be presented on research directed to support emerging types of thermal beneficiation, fluidised bed and flash reduction technologies.