CIVS Staff Attend Hydrogen-based Ironmaking Project Meeting at Carnegie Mellon University

On August 21, CIVS Director Chenn Zhou, CIVS Associate Director for Research Tyamo Okosun, and CIVS Graduate Research Assistant Samuel Nielson attended the Scaling H2 DRI Year 1 Project Meeting at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.

The meeting was focused on the DOE-funded project “Scaling Hydrogen-Direct Reduced Iron Pathways to Decarbonize Iron and Steelmaking.” This project is led by Dr. Chris Pistorius at CMU, co-director of the Center for Iron and Steel Research. PNW is contributing to the effort by leading the development of a new CFD model to simulate direct reduction ironmaking (DRI) in both industrial and laboratory environments. CIVS is collaborating with CMU to calibrate the model based on experimental measurements of chemical reactions, assist in the development of new experiments based on expected conditions within different parts of the DRI shaft furnace, and will support the analysis of Hydrogen-based DRI using the CFD model to simulation real-world industrial operations under this low-carbon environment.

Attendees included representatives from Nucor, U. S. Steel, and the U.S. Dept. of Energy, in addition to PNW and CMU researchers actively working on the project. Dr. Pistorius and Dr. Valerie Karplus from CMU presented an introduction to the project, followed by presentations from project team members on the progress on development of the DRI reactor CFD model (presented by CIVS Graduate Research Assistant Samuel Nielson), experimental analysis of iron ore pellet reduction, techno-economic analysis of the process, and a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility session helmed by faculty and staff from CMU.