Decarbonising explosives manufacturing and catalysing low-carbon mining supply is a significant
global challenge.
Low-carbon manufacturing precincts – clusters of geographically close businesses across multiple
industries that share a goal of adopting firmed renewable energy and decarbonising process
emissions – offer one potential solution.
In an Australian first, Orica commissioned tertiary catalyst abatement technology in 2023 to
mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at its Kooragang Island (KI) facility in New South Wales
(NSW), Australia. The EnviNOx® technology (ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions AG, Dortmund,
Germany) used reduces nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas arising as a by-product of
nitric acid manufacture. As a result, mining customers in NSW are now benefitting from ammonium
nitrate (AN) products that are almost 50 per cent less emissions-intensive than those Orica
previously offered.
The $37 million project is a private-public partnership that has involved partners across Federal
and State government, global engineering and technology vendors, local community groups and
local carbon advisors to overcome financial barriers.