AISI Holds Environmental Briefing on Capitol Hill

AISI held an environmental briefing on Capitol Hill on April 24, highlighting the industry's efforts to reduce its environmental footprint through research projects at universities around the country. Speakers at the briefing included AISI Chairman-elect and Chairman of The Timken Company, Ward J. "Tim" Timken, keynote speaker Professor Donald R. Sadoway from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), AISI President and CEO Andrew G. Sharkey, III and AISI Vice President, Manufacturing and Technology, Lawrence Kavanagh.

The briefing served as an opportunity for the steel industry to gets its environmental message and achievements out to both Hill staffers and the media, while at the same time highlighting the research efforts that the industry is taking part in to continually improve upon its already impressive environmental performance.

"The industry has already reduced energy use per ton of steel shipped by 27 percent since the Kyoto baseline year of 1990, which also puts reduction by America's steel sector of greenhouse gas emissions far below Kyoto standards. We are not complacent, however," said Timken. "We are actively investing in research and new technologies to sustain significant progress."

Keynote speaker Professor Sadoway highlighted one such research project aimed at producing iron by molten oxide electrolysis (MOE), which would generate no CO2 gases. At the briefing, Sadoway cautioned that the research is only in the beginning phases, but what has been demonstrated thus far is encouraging.

"At the laboratory scale, production of liquid iron and oxygen gas by electrolysis of iron oxide has been demonstrated," said Sadoway. "This represents a significant first step towards carbon-free ironmaking by a technology that completely avoids emission of greenhouse gases from the smelter."

Iron, small amounts of carbon and various other alloys -- depending on the customer's requirements -- are used to make steel. Ironmaking is currently the most energy-intensive step in the steelmaking process.

The full briefing is available on AISI's Web site (www.steel.org) via streaming video. For more information, contact Nancy Gravatt.