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REGIONAL— A $1.3 million federal grant award to UMD’s Natural Resources Research Institute in Duluth should be the final piece in a $4-5 million funding package to support a feasibility …
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REGIONAL— A $1.3 million federal grant award to UMD’s Natural Resources Research Institute in Duluth should be the final piece in a $4-5 million funding package to support a feasibility study of a first-of-its-kind hydrogen-based green iron plant to be built somewhere on the Iron Range.
If all goes according to plan, the study should be completed within a year and a plant could become a reality within five years, according to Rolf Weberg, executive director of the NRRI, who spoke with the Timberjay this week. If so, he said, it could put Minnesota in the forefront of a transformation in the steel industry now underway across the globe.
The federal funds are expected to come from the Department of Energy’s Office of Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization and the award marks the first project under the Midwest Industrial Transformation Initiative. The ultimate goal of the initiative is to provide a national and global model of industrial transformation across four critical sectors, including iron/steel, cement/concrete, ammonia/fertilizers, and liquid fuels.
The planned feasibility study is part of a collaboration between NRRI, the Great Plains Institute, West Central Research and Outreach Center, and a consortium of community-based organizations, government agencies, tribal entities, organized labor, and industry partners.
“This green iron project will be the first of its kind, putting the U.S. on a trajectory to maintain global competitiveness as the demand for green iron and other critical materials grows,” said Weberg.
While the award was made ahead of the change of administrations, the funding is now on hold while the incoming Trump administration ostensibly conducts a 90-day review.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the president’s action, but uncertainty remains about the future of billions of dollars in federal grants.
While the new president has been seen as hostile to green energy, which would be at the heart of the proposed new facility, Weberg said he remains optimistic that the funding will eventually come through.
Weberg notes that the project has strong bipartisan backing from the state’s political leaders as well as from industry partners, including U.S. Steel, which will be an active participant in the feasibility study. The study is expected to take about a year, said Weberg.
While the effort could potentially attract other funding should the federal funds be canceled, Weberg said a federal role in the effort is important given the potential impact to the national economy. He said industry players will also be looking for federal cooperation to advance what could be the largest new investment on the Iron Range in years, assuming the study confirms its feasibility. “We’re talking about an investment of $800 million to $1.5 billion,” said Weberg. “No industry will commit to that kind of investment without a very, very detailed feasibility study,” he added.
The Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation is another major funder of the study, contributing $2 million toward the effort. IRRR Commissioner Ida Rukavina said the Iron Range is eager to make its contribution to the ongoing energy transition. “As the nation’s primary source of iron ore, the Mesabi Iron Range is poised for green iron innovations,” she said. “Our region’s abundant natural resources have long been a driver of national prosperity, and we’re ready to lead in these critical industry transformations.”
A green iron facility on the Iron Range would use hydrogen as a substitute for the natural gas currently used in most processing facilities and the hydrogen would need to be produced from green sources of electrical energy, most likely wind or solar, which would power the electrolysis that would separate water molecules, or H2O, for their two atoms of hydrogen. The switch to hydrogen as a primary fuel source would substantially reduce the carbon footprint of iron production. Weberg said he expects the facility would be able to produce a variety of iron products to serve both traditional blast furnaces, which utilize taconite pellets, as well as electric arc furnaces, which require direct reduced iron products.
While a clean energy transition may not be a high priority with the current cast of federal policymakers, Weberg said the U.S. will need to make the transition if it is going to remain competitive in a global environment. Regardless of attitudes in the U.S., Weberg said U.S. steel products will have to come “with a pedigree of how they are sourced,” if they are to compete on the world market.
With other countries moving forward with their own transitions, Weberg said time is of the essence. “The industry needs to make decisions in the near future,” said Weberg. “That makes the timeliness of this study very important. Once it’s done, we will have a much better idea of how to move forward.”