$7M IVBF Project Highlighted in DOE Review Meeting & Approved for Phase II

CIVS successfully completed the first phase of the DOE-funded $7M IVBF project led by Dr. Tyamo Okosun, who was selected to provide an oral presentation to U.S. Department of Energy peer reviewers on the Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office’s ongoing efforts in steelmaking research. Project PI, Research Associate Professor Tyamo Okosun, traveled to Washington D.C. on May 17th, 2023, to summarize efforts and activities in the $7M Integrated Virtual Blast Furnace project during performance period #1.

A range of other projects were presented during the peer review to detail DOE’s research portfolio to peer reviewers across the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) and the Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO). Dr. Okosun and CIVS Director Chenn Zhou engaged with DOE peer reviewers and officials as well as industry and academic field experts at the Annual Peer Review, exploring opportunities for further collaboration and research in the fields of steelmaking, energy, and Decarbonization.

Additionally, on April 1st, 2023, the IVBF project team met the technical requirements to proceed through the project’s first Go/No-go decision point. After review with the U.S. DOE project team, the project was approved to continue into the second of three performance periods, supported by the next stage of DOE funding ($1.9M). Performance period #2 will focus on the development of blast furnace stability indices, implementation and refinement of Reduced Order Models (ROMs), and coordination with U. S. Steel on the deployment of a casting rate sensor prototype at Gary Works #14 blast furnace before performance period #3 can begin in 2024.