AISI Receives Collaborative Research Grants

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced that it will invest more than $6 million over three years in two AISI collaborative research projects aimed at developing transformational iron and steel processes and technologies that will reduce steel's energy intensity and carbon footprint.

The projects include: Paired Straight Hearth Furnace (PSHF)- A Transformational Ironmaking Process (McMaster University) and Research, Development and Field Testing of Thermochemical Recuperation (TCR) for High Temperature Furnaces - A Technology for Utilizing the Energy Contained in Waste Heat (Gas Technology Institute).

"The PSHF process has the potential to replace blast furnaces and coke ovens at a fraction of the operating and capital cost while using only 2/3 the energy," said Joe Vehec, AISI, Director—Technology Roadmap Program. "And TCR may reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions compared to conventional technologies by at least 30 percent."

These projects are part of the DOE - Industrial Technology Program's $26 million investment in developing and deploying energy-efficient technologies to reduce U.S. industrial energy intensity and contribute to significant greenhouse gas (and other) emissions.

These research efforts support AISI's climate change policy and will further compliment steel's technology-led initiatives to improve energy efficiency and impact climate change. For more information, contact Joe Vehec.