On February 13th, 2024, a new DOE-funded CIVS project, “Hydrogen Utilization in the Reheat Furnace,” was presented by Kevin Kondrat, Improvement Facilitator for Gerdau Special Steel, joined by CIVS Senior Research Engineer Nick Walla, at the AIST Detroit Chapter monthly dinner meeting.

The presentation highlighted the Development and Demonstration of an Industrial Hydrogen-fired Steel Reheating Furnace (H2RF) project, supported by a $10 million grant [link] from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO). It was officially announced at a formal ceremony in October 2023. An essential aspect of this project was the H2 fuel research conducted at CIVS & SMSVC since 2018, which led to various phases of development that will expand into 2025.

During the presentation, Kevin introduced the Gerdau Special Steel Monroe mill, which will serve as the industrial site demonstration for the project assisted by Linde. He highlighted the mill’s economic footprint, automotive applications, and production capabilities.

Gerdau is the largest scrap metal recycler in Latin America and a leading global steel producer that operates a network of metals recycling locations, steel mills, and downstream facilities to transform 11 million tons of recycled scrap metal annually into a wide range of steel products. Gerdau is a member of the Steel Manufacturing Simulation & Visualization Consortium (SMSVC).

The Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) is a non-profit organization with 15,500 members from over 70 countries. With 30 Technology Committees and 22 Local Members Chapters, AIST represents an incomparable steel industry knowledge and expertise network. Their mission is to advance the technical development, production, processing, and application of iron and steel. The Detroit Member Chapter includes Michigan and parts of Northwestern Ohio.

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