U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Industrial Technologies Program – Steel Industry of the Future

Success Stories

The Mesabi Nugget Project demonstrated ITmk3® one-step furnace operation process that was developed by Kobe Steel, Ltd. The ITmk3® process could revolutionize iron making and substantially reduce energy use and associated emissions.

Collaborative R&D projects under the auspices of the Steel Industry of the Future have produced energy, environmental, and economical benefits for the industry and the nation. Examples are available below as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

• Enhanced Spheroidized Annealing (PDF 72 KB)
• Mesabi Nugget Ironmaking Technology for the Future: High Quality Iron Nuggets Using a Rotary Hearth Furnace (PDF 701 KB)
• Dilute Oxygen Combustion (PDF 147 KB)
• Hot Blast Stove Process Model (PDF 118 KB)
• Microstructure Engineering in Hot Strip Mills (PDF 109 KB) (Final Report (PDF 3.3 MB))
• Nickel Aluminide Transfer Rolls (PDF 2.6 MB) (Final Report (PDF 2.1 MB))
• NOx Emission Reduction by Oscillating Combustion (PDF 2.2 MB) (Final Report (PDF 4.1 MB))
• Development of a Process to Continuously Melt, Refine, and Cast High Quality Steel (PDF 2.4 MB) (Final Report (PDF 3.0 MB))

Emerging Technologies are defined as technologies that are likely to be commercially available in the next two years.