Global industry leaders meet in Australia to drive high-temperature processes emissions down to net zero.

Industry experts worldwide are attending the High Temperature Minerals Processing (HiTeMP) Forum this week at the University of Adelaide in Australia to tackle the challenge of decarbonizing energy-intensive industries in an environment of cooperation and idea sharing.

This fourth gathering of the Forum united stakeholders to share their latest developments and perspectives on emerging drivers, technologies, and barriers to decarbonizing energy-intensive and high-temperature process industries. It also brought together industry representatives, researchers, and government agencies to work toward realizing the net-zero transition for industrial processes through solutions like electrification, the use of hydrogen and alternative fuels, as well as carbon capture and reuse.

HiTeMP is "the go-to forum for industry, researchers and government agencies at the forefront of implementing the transition to net-zero CO2 emissions for high temperature industrial processes," said Professor Gus Nathan, director of the Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Resources (ISER) at the University of Adelaide and chair of this year's HiTeMP Forum. "We will be discussing the latest developments about the technologies, policies and finance to address barriers and identify the enablers to further decarbonise energy-intensive, high temperature process industries, which are the hard-to-abate parts of heavy industry."

The forum fosters an "innovation ecosystem" of collaboration, international partnerships, and knowledge-sharing to help identify emerging opportunities in several areas:

• Circular economy principles, financial models.

• Infrastructure with supporting policy and regulatory frameworks.

• Establishing industrial hubs that lower costs and de-risk future investments.

• Decarbonizing and strengthening domestic supply chains.

• New markets emerging for certified low-carbon products and the new technologies needed to manufacture them.

"The challenge is complex as there is no one-size-fits-all solution that can be applied to different industries using large amounts of energy – each has its own requirements which must be catered for if they are to successfully transition away from using fossil fuels," said Nathan. "Australia has the potential to have lower cost net-zero energy sources than many other countries. Hydrogen is expected to be in this mix, either generated from renewables or natural gas, but both carbon capture and re-use or storage and electrification with net-zero electricity are also important."

The HiTeMP Forum chair said the low-cost renewable energy generated in Australia could be used to add value to the rich mineral resources for which Australia is renowned.

"Currently, Australia exports its ore to be processed overseas into raw materials, but we are ideally placed to be a major player in the next 20 to 30 years as a manufacturer of green raw materials such as green iron and alumina by processing ore using our abundant locally generated renewable energy," he said.

Beyond adding value to ore, the development of technologies to decarbonize energy-intensive industries offers other potneial economic benefits for Australian businesses.

"With a growing number of high temperature manufacturing companies across the world already committed to decarbonise, new markets are opening both for the emerging certified low-carbon products and for the new technologies needed to manufacture them," said Nathan.

This year's HiTeMP Forum featured the latest research and technology-driven solutions to help heavy industries make the transition to net zero while minimizing the costs and risks associated with new technology and enabling companies to remain competitive.

"The best minds in research, industry and government, such as those attending HiTeMP, are working together to overcome challenges faced by energy-intensive industries and to realise the opportunities on the horizon," the forum chair said.