Steel is a vital material, essential for structural uses and made from abundant iron ore and scrap steel. About 80 million tonnes of steel are produced in the United States every year. Steel is widely used in buildings, bridges, transportation, manufacturing machinery, electrical appliances, energy technologies, and many other applications. Steelmaking is energy-intensive, requiring high process temperatures for smelting iron ore and for melting and refining steel.
How Does ITO Make Domestic Steelmaking More Competitive?
Modern steelmaking has been evolving steadily since the mid-1800s, creating the efficient furnaces we know today. The U.S. has repurposed end-of-life scrap for decades, creating a more efficient production process. Remelting steel scrap in Electric Arc Furnaces (EAF) requires less than half the energy to make steel vs. production from iron ore using Blast Furnaces and Basic Oxygen Furnaces. With 70% of domestic steel made in EAFs, American steel is among the most energy efficient in the world.
Even with this legacy of energy and technological advancement, there are more challenges to overcome, and opportunities remain to spur innovation. To address these challenges, the Industrial Technologies Office (ITO) is helping to lead the Department of Energy's program for Iron and Steel Manufacturing. Strategic objectives for improving manufacturing competitiveness are to:
- Develop novel alternative ironmaking methods that consume less energy.
- Develop energy efficient and cost-effective methods to remove copper and tin in steel scrap so it does not contaminate steelmaking.
- Develop beneficiation techniques that upgrade ores more efficiently for ironmaking.
- Develop chemical processing methods that take advantage of lower grade iron ores and novel sources of iron (such as slags and tailings from iron and alumina production) with the prospect of secondary value streams from separating other metals and minerals along with the iron oxide.
- Develop next-gen smart manufacturing systems that integrate new sensors and data sources with advanced physics-based models and machine learning (AI).
