Cleveland-Cliffs completes hydrogen trial in East Chicago
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Steel manufacturer Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has successfully completed a hydrogen injection trial at its Indiana Harbor No. 7 blast furnace, the largest blast furnace in North America.
The trial at the company’s Indiana Harbor Works steel mill in East Chicago used hydrogen as a fuel source and reductant, a reducing agent in the steel manufacturing process, according to a news release.
Coal-based coke is typically used as a fuel source and reductant in making steel.
“We are proud of our ability to be ahead of the curve in using this cutting edge technology to decarbonize, while maintaining both our efficiency and the high standard of quality that comes with steel produced via the blast furnace route,” said Lourenco Goncalves, company chairman, president and CEO, in the news release. “As the American iron and steel leader, we are proud that we are ahead of the rest of the world in using the technologies that make our blast furnace steel the cleanest in the world.”
The trial at Indiana Harbor No. 7 represents the second Cleveland-Cliffs blast furnace to use hydrogen as a reductant and fuel source. Middletown Works in southwest Ohio completed a successful trial in May of 2023, the news release said.
Inside INdiana Business reported in October that Cleveland-Cliffs is building a multimillion-dollar pipeline to send hydrogen to the East Chicago blast furnace.
The Cleveland-based company is the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America and the largest supplier of steel to the automotive industry in North America, according to the news release.