Precision-engineered renewable carbon products developer BioCarbon Australia (BioCarbon) has announced it has been awarded AU$4.8 million in funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to support the development of its first commercial-scale biochar project in Bulahdelah, New South Wales (NSW).
According to a statement, the funding represents a major milestone in BioCarbon’s transition from pilot operations to industrial-scale production, supporting the replacement of traditional, high-emission metallurgical coke with high-performance, net-zero “GreenChar” in steelmaking.
Utilizing BioCarbon’s proprietary advanced pyrolysis technology, the Bulahdelah facility will produce renewable carbon products for use as charge carbon in Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) 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 GreenChar’s performance in 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 Bulahdelah biochar 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 an 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 EAFs 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 for the XPRIZE Carbon Removal Top 100 and inclusion in the Tech23 cohort, Australia’s leading awards program for deep-tech innovators.
The support from ARENA enables us to move beyond our pilot operations and into commercial reality. Between our successful 3,000-tonne steel trials and thousands of hours of incident-free pilot plant operation, we are demonstrating that GreenChar is a viable, high-performance alternative to fossil coke that the steel industry is ready to adopt, said Chad Sheppeard, CEO of BioCarbon.
