PFI-RP: Converting waste gas into clean hydrogen for sustainable steel production

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation – Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project is the efficient production of carbon free hydrogen along with the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. iron and steel industry. Iron and steel manufacturing produces large amounts of fuel-rich gases that are currently wasted. Applying the proposed technology to iron and steel manufacturing can use this wasted resource with high energy efficiency, with the potential to eliminate more than 500 million tons/year of CO2 emissions worldwide. Furthermore, the technology will improve the economic attractiveness for greener iron and steel production. For instance, it can produce $26 million/year worth of H2 in a single plant we identified. Moreover, the proposed technology is applicable to utilize a variety of industrial waste gases, biogas, and/or landfill gas feedstocks with zero or even negative net CO2 emissions. Successful completion of the proposed project will lead to significant economic benefits for U.S. iron/steel production while advancing U.S. industry towards a carbon-free future. In addition to its technological impacts, the proposed project offers an exceptional opportunity to educate a new generation of engineers in academic research skills and leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship in process intensification and sustainable energy technologies. The proposed project will address the inefficient use of “waste” gases that come from state-of-the-art iron production processes. These gases often contain significant amounts of fuels such as methane, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen diluted with carbon dioxide. While conventional technologies exist to convert these gases into hydrogen fuel and carbon dioxide, they are complex and inefficient, particularly given the mixed nature of the waste gas. We have developed a new technology that efficiently converts the waste gas into separate streams of sequestrable carbon dioxide and hydrogen, in two interconnected steps. Our preliminary results support the viability and attractiveness of the proposed technology. The proposed project is designed to specifically address the remaining technological gaps including further optimization of the redox catalysts, large-scale catalyst production, data-driven improvement of reactor operation, demonstration of the process with a real waste gas stream from the plant, and detailed economic and environmental analyses. This will be achieved through the deployment of a small pilot unit at an iron/steel production site, demonstrating the viability of producing hydrogen from the waste gas. The project will pave the way for commercialization after the project. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.