December 02, 2008

AISI committed to a sustainable future

The American Iron and Steel Institute held an environmental briefing on Capitol Hill, highlighting the industry’s commitment to reducing its environmental footprint through research projects at universities around the country and featuring a lead researcher who discussed one of the promising technologies currently being developed. The goal of these research projects is to reduce, and eventually eliminate, CO2 emissions from the steel making process.

As part of a joint program between AISI and the Department of Energy known as the CO2 Breakthrough Program, research is currently underway at the University of Utah, under the leadership of Dr Sohn to produce iron by Hydrogen Flash Smelting. Hydrogen Flash Smelting is a process during which iron is separated from iron ore at high temperature and at very fast reaction times. The unique characteristic is the use of hydrogen as the fuel. At today’s briefing, Sohn cautioned that the research is still in the beginning phases, but what has been demonstrated thus far is encouraging.

In addition to the University of Utah project, AISI has three other long-range projects that will have a positive impact on the environment. These three projects include: Molten Oxide Electrolysis at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Geological Sequestration of CO2 at the University of Missouri Rolla and Integrating Steel Production with Mineral Sequestration at Columbia University. There are also several short-term projects being conducted by AISI and its members that will also have important environmental impacts.

Mr Andrew G. Sharkey III president & CEO of AISI said that “The American steel industry is proud to be an environmental leader that is committed to a sustainable future. The industry has already reduced energy use per ton of steel shipped by 29% since the Kyoto baseline year of 1990, which also puts reduction by America’s steel sector of greenhouse gas emissions far below Kyoto standards. Even with these great strides, we are actively investing in research and new technologies to sustain significant progress.”

Mr HY Sohn professor, metallurgical and chemical engineering, University of Utah said that “This is an exciting time to be working with the steel industry. We are trying to take drastic steps forward to reduce carbon emissions from the steel industry.”