Green Steel, Entropy and Exergy Boundary

CEWT FOUNDATION SERIES – THERMODYNAMIC EDITION Green Steel, Entropy and the Energy Boundary Why Hydrogen DRI Without Electrical Defossilisation Remains an Open System 1. The Thermodynamic Premise Every industrial plant is a thermodynamic system. It exchanges mass, energy, and entropy. The outcome of the system is not defined by one reaction, but by the total energy and entropy crossing its boundary. In steelmaking, hydrogen DRI modifies the chemical pathway. But thermodynamics asks a deeper question: What is the quality of the energy entering the system? 2. Energy Is Not Equal — Exergy Matters Not all energy is equivalent. Thermodynamics distinguishes between energy (quantity) and exergy (usable, high-quality energy capable of performing work). Electricity is high-exergy energy. When electricity is produced from fossil combustion, its generation involves exergy destruction, entropy generation, and carbon release. If fossil-based electricity enters the steel plant, the entropy cost has already been paid upstream. The plant appears clean internally — the entropy has merely been displaced. 3. The Entropy Relocation Effect Hydrogen DRI removes carbon from the shaft furnace. However, hydrogen preheating, electric arc furnaces, compression, and auxiliaries are electrically driven. If that electricity is fossil-derived, entropy generation occurs at the power plant. The steel plant becomes an open system dependent on external entropy production. Carbon intensity has not vanished. It has crossed the thermodynamic boundary. 4. Open vs Architecturally Closed Systems An open system imports high-exergy fossil electricity, relocates emissions upstream, and remains globally carbon-linked. A structurally closed architecture aligns chemical inputs with low-carbon energy sources, minimises entropy generation across the full boundary, and synchronises reduction chemistry and electrical backbone. Circular economy requires thermodynamic coherence. 5. The Exergy Insight Steelmaking is fundamentally an exergy transformation process. Iron ore reduction and melting require high-temperature gradients and high-exergy energy vectors. If those vectors originate from fossil systems, the entropy footprint persists regardless of reaction chemistry. Hydrogen may decarbonise the reductant. Electricity defines the exergy architecture. 6. Circular Economy as a Boundary Condition Circularity is not merely about carbon molecules. It is about closing material loops, aligning energy quality with regenerative sources, and minimising entropy export beyond the system boundary. A steel plant drawing fossil electricity remains coupled to linear extraction upstream. 7. The Architecture Principle Thermodynamics does not allow selective accounting. Entropy generated outside the boundary is still entropy in the system context. You do not decarbonise steel by changing the reductant alone. You redesign the exergy architecture of the entire system. Until hydrogen DRI is paired with a defossilised electrical backbone, green steel remains thermodynamically open. Closing Reflection Energy transition is not a debate about fuels. It is a question of boundaries, exergy quality, and entropy management. Industrial sustainability will be determined not by isolated process improvements, but by coherent energy architecture. Clean Energy and Water Technologies Pty Ltd (CEWT) ABN 61 691 320 028 | ACN 691 320 028 Redesigning Industrial Energy Architecture

Defossilisation: Correcting the Structural Error in the Energy Transition

Defossilisation: Correcting the Structural Error in the Energy Transition Author: Ahilan Raman Managing Director Clean Energy and Water Technologies Pty Ltd (CEWT) ABN 61 691 320 028 Executive Summary Global energy transition strategies have predominantly focused on decarbonisation — reducing greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy produced. While necessary, this approach does not correct the structural flaw embedded in the current energy architecture: continued reliance on new fossil carbon extraction. This white paper introduces defossilisation as a systems-level framework that eliminates new fossil carbon input after system start-up. It proposes a closed industrial carbon loop powered by renewable energy, where carbon functions as a recyclable carrier rather than a one-way emission stream. Defossilisation complements renewable deployment by addressing firm power requirements, industrial thermodynamics, and long-term carbon balance integrity. 1. The Structural Framing Problem For over three decades, climate strategy has been framed primarily as a carbon emissions problem. Policy tools such as carbon pricing, emissions trading schemes, carbon capture and storage, renewable subsidies, and efficiency improvements reduce intensity, but do not eliminate fossil carbon input. The prevailing architecture remains linear: Extraction → Combustion → Emission → Mitigation. This structure inherently requires continuous management and fails to redefine the system boundary. 2. Carbon in Context Carbon exists in two fundamentally different states: geological carbon (coal, oil, gas) and active-cycle carbon (atmosphere, biomass, ocean). Disruption arises when geological carbon is transferred into the active cycle at industrial scale. Decarbonisation reduces the rate of transfer. Defossilisation eliminates the transfer. 3. Decarbonisation vs Defossilisation Decarbonisation focuses on reducing emissions intensity. Defossilisation focuses on eliminating new fossil carbon input. An economy can decarbonise while still extracting fossil carbon. Structural equilibrium requires eliminating fossil carbon feedstock. 4. The System–Surroundings Boundary Natural systems operate in closed loops. Industrial systems operate linearly. Correcting this requires renewable primary energy input, closed industrial carbon circulation, and elimination of new fossil carbon injection. 5. Industrial Reality: The Firm Power Imperative Heavy industry and digital infrastructure require continuous power, high load factors, grid stability, and thermodynamic reliability. Intermittent generation alone cannot meet these requirements without system redesign. 6. Closed Carbon Architecture In a defossilised system, renewable electricity becomes the primary energy source. Hydrogen acts as the energy vector. Carbon dioxide is captured and reused as a process feedstock. No new fossil carbon enters the system after commissioning. 7. Economic Implications Defossilised systems reduce exposure to carbon price volatility, regulatory tightening, trade barriers, fossil fuel supply risk, and asset stranding. 8. Policy Alignment Defossilisation supports net-zero commitments, renewable integration strategies, hydrogen deployment, carbon pricing frameworks, and industrial decarbonisation roadmaps under a coherent structural objective. 9. The Next Phase of the Energy Transition The first phase focused on renewable deployment. The second must focus on system integration, firm industrial energy, and closed carbon loops. 10. Conclusion Carbon is not inherently problematic. Fossil carbon dependency is. Defossilisation represents a design principle: no new fossil carbon input after start-up. The energy transition will mature when architecture replaces patchwork. About CEWT Clean Energy and Water Technologies Pty Ltd (CEWT) develops integrated energy system architectures focused on renewable-powered closed carbon cycles and firm industrial energy delivery.

Circular Industry is not enough- It must become circcular Carbon.

Circular Industry Is Not Enough — It Must Become Circular Carbon The industrial revolution is going circular. That’s encouraging. When global technology leaders speak about circularity, it signals a structural shift — not just incremental sustainability. But we need to ask a deeper question. What exactly is going circular? Most industrial circularity focuses on: • Recycling materials • Reducing waste • Extending product lifecycles • Improving energy efficiency • Electrifying processes All essential steps. Yet one structural issue often remains untouched: The origin of the carbon entering the system. If industry recycles materials but continues introducing new fossil carbon at the energy level, the loop is only partially closed. True circular industry requires three loops to align: 1️. Material loop 2️. Energy loop 3️. Carbon loop Recycling plastics is progress. Recycling metals is progress. But recycling carbon — instead of continuously extracting new fossil carbon — is the architectural shift. Circularity is not just about waste. It is about system boundaries. The next industrial revolution will not simply be circular. It will be structurally regenerative. #CEWTFoundation #CircularEconomy #CircularCarbon #IndustrialTransformation #Defossilisation

CRT is an industrial defossilisation Platform

An Enabling Platform for Industrial Defossilisation Clean Energy and Water Technologies Pty Ltd (CEWT) Industrial decarbonisation cannot be achieved by renewable electricity alone. While renewables effectively reduce emissions from grid electricity, heavy industries continue to rely on fossil fuels for: • High-temperature process heat • Chemical reductants and feedstocks • Continuous baseload power • Steam and integrated thermal systems Carbon Recycling Technology (CRT) provides a system-level solution. CRT creates a closed carbon loop in which renewable hydrogen supplies energy, while carbon atoms are continuously recycled rather than extracted from fossil sources. This architecture enables industries to eliminate fossil inputs without compromising operational stability. CRT as an Ideology-Neutral Industrial Platform CRT is not built on political positioning. It is built on thermodynamics and system engineering. For industries and policymakers who accept that CO₂ emissions contribute to global warming and climate change, CRT offers a practical pathway for industrial defossilisation — eliminating fossil inputs while maintaining industrial continuity and competitiveness. For those who prioritise energy security, resource efficiency, and long-term industrial resilience — irrespective of climate narratives — CRT functions as a circular carbon economy platform, where carbon is treated as a recyclable carrier rather than a disposable waste stream. In both cases, the outcome is aligned: • Reduced fossil fuel dependence • Greater energy sovereignty • Lower exposure to carbon border mechanisms • Improved system resilience CRT does not depend on belief systems. It depends on physics. Industrial Applications of CRT 1. Green Steel Transition (BF/BOF & DRI Integration) CRT enables renewable methane for high-temperature heat, continuous zero-emission baseload electricity, integration with hydrogen-based DRI, and full-plant defossilisation rather than partial electrification. 2. Green Glass via Oxy-Combustion CRT supplies renewable methane within a closed carbon cycle, enabling stable high-temperature combustion, zero fossil carbon input, and confinement of carbon within system boundaries. 3. Green Aluminium Production CRT supports zero-emission firm baseload electricity, integrated hydrogen-energy architecture, and synergies with caustic soda production pathways — enabling decarbonisation of both electrolytic aluminium production and Bayer process alumina refining. 4. Seawater Desalination & Chemical Valorisation CRT enables continuous zero-emission electricity supply, integration with brine valorisation, and pathways for caustic soda and soda ash production — supporting water security and industrial transition simultaneously. From Decarbonisation to Defossilisation Renewables decarbonise electricity. CRT defossilises industry. Together, they decarbonise the economy. CRT is a scalable industrial platform designed to align heavy industry with energy transition — grounded firmly in thermodynamics and system engineering.

CRT closes the Carbon Loop - just like Nature does it.

CEWT Foundation Series The Carbon Cycle, Human Disruption, and System Restoration 1. The Natural Carbon Cycle – A Balanced Exchange For millions of years, carbon circulated in equilibrium between atmosphere, oceans, soils, and life. Photosynthesis absorbs CO2. Respiration and decomposition return it. Oceans exchange CO2 depending on temperature. Carbon moves — but remains within the active system. 2. The Disruption – Fossil Carbon Injection Fossil fuels are geologically stored carbon. Burning coal, oil, and gas transfers ancient carbon into the atmosphere. This is one-way injection — not recycling — resulting in accumulation and imbalance. 3. System Correction – Closing the Loop System stability requires eliminating new fossil carbon inputs and restoring circular carbon flows powered by renewable energy. 4. CEWT System Logic CEWT’s Carbon Recycling Technology keeps carbon in circulation while renewable hydrogen provides the energy input. The objective is not eliminating carbon — but eliminating fossil carbon disruption. Foundation Statement: Nature operates in cycles. Instability begins when we break the loop. Stability returns whe