BioCarbon secures first commercial biochar steelmaking project

BioCarbon is pleased to announce it has been awarded $4.8 million in funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to support the development of its first commercial-scale project in Bulahdelah, NSW. The funding represents a major milestone in BioCarbon’s transition from pilot operations to industrial-scale production and supports the replacement of traditional, high-emission metallurgical coke with high-performance, net-zero GreenChar® in steelmaking.

The Bulahdelah facility will produce renewable carbon products for use as charge carbon in Electric Arc Furnace steelmaking, providing a practical pathway to reduce emissions in existing steel operations. The project is supported under ARENA’s National Industrial Transformation Program and aligns with national efforts to accelerate the transition to low emissions metals.

Proving a Pathway to Green Steel

While the majority of the plant’s output will be allocated to primary operations, BioCarbon has confirmed that a dedicated portion of production will be made available to selected industry partners for exclusive trials. This will enable steelmakers and metallurgical operators to validate the performance of GreenChar within their own facilities, supporting future supply partnerships and broader adoption.

The project builds on several years of technology development and validation, scaling BioCarbon’s proprietary pyrolysis and consolidation processes into a commercial facility capable of continuous operation.

Breaking the green premium in biochar steelmaking

A key objective of the project is to demonstrate that renewable carbon can be supplied at cost parity with traditional metallurgical coke. Historically, the so-called green premium has been a major barrier to industrial decarbonisation.

BioCarbon’s engineering advances in pyrolysis and consolidation allow GreenChar to deliver a net-zero carbon profile at the same cost in use as fossil-based coke. This removes economic risk for steelmakers, enabling emissions reduction without increasing operational expenditure.

Proven performance at industrial scale

The commercial development follows years of rigorous research, development and industrial validation. BioCarbon’s technology has already been proven at scale, with GreenChar successfully replacing 100 percent of charge coke in Electric Arc Furnaces during trials that produced approximately 3,000 tonnes of steel.

These trials demonstrated that GreenChar is a high-performance, drop-in replacement that maintains metallurgical integrity without requiring significant plant modifications.

These achievements have earned BioCarbon significant global and domestic recognition, including selection in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal Top 100 and being named among the Tech23 cohort, Australia’s leading awards program for deep-tech innovators.

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Source & image credit: BioCarbon