In this episode of Stirring the Pot we talk to recent recipient of HERA’s Innovation Award - Chris Bumby.

As a Victoria University of Wellingtons Senior Scientist, he has been heading exciting research that is leading towards the development of hydrogen as a reductant for iron ores. This would mean that water, instead of carbon dioxide, would be the bi-product of reduction and may eliminate the use of coal.

Their work has already developed a small-scale zero-carbon way to make iron that works especially well for New Zealand iron sands. The one-step process is also looking promising in that it produces very high purity iron very quickly.

Excitingly, the team have recently won a $6.5 million grant to start to scale-up the process to tens of kilograms level, taking it one step further towards the aimed eventual commercial scale. 

Connect with Chris

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-bumby-7b972025/

More information on this research: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/engineering/about/news/robinson-research-institutes-hydrogen-steelmaking-research-wins-innovation-award

Connect with Troy

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/troy-coyle-8202b912/

Resources and links

• Connect with HERA team - https://hera.org.nz/about-us/our-people/hera-team/
• Learn more about HERA's Industry 4.0 rangahau: https://hera.org.nz/research/industry-x-0/
• Subscribe to our podcast: https://www.hera.org.nz/podcasts/
• For live updates, follow us on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/hera-innovationinmetals/

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