Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. announced that it has successfully completed a hydrogen (H2) injection trial at its Indiana Harbor #7 blast furnace, the largest blast furnace in North America. This represents the second Cleveland-Cliffs blast furnace to utilize hydrogen as a reductant and fuel source, following the successful trial at Middletown Works in May of 2023. Indiana Harbor #7 is among the largest blast furnaces in the entire world, both in size and production capacity.
Cliffs recently completed the commissioning of the hydrogen pipeline at Indiana Harbor, which was used for this trial. This successful commissioning marks another significant achievement toward Cliffs’ future GHG reduction efforts, completing the pipeline in advance of schedule, below budget and without incident. Cliffs’ hydrogen gas supplier, Linde, was a critical partner in the successful execution of this major trial.
Lourenco Goncalves, Cliffs’ Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “Indiana Harbor #7 is the largest blast furnace in North America and 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. 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, including using iron ore pellets, natural gas injection, HBI, and now hydrogen. I congratulate my team on another major step forward. I also thank Linde for their valuable contribution.”
