In iron and steel, process heating is used for calcining, sintering and agglomeration, heating of metals and non-metals, process gas preheating, reactive thermal processing and smelting of ores. Process temperatures range from 400°C to 1700°C, depending on the specific process step.

The integrated steelmaking process, which employs the blast furnace – basic oxygen furnace steelmaking route, accounts for approximately 30% of steel production in the U.S. The remaining 70% of U.S. steel production is achieved through the electric arc furnace steelmaking process.

Today, process heating of raw materials, preheating of steelmaking vessels, and reheating of steel for thermomechanical processing, heat treating and annealing of products relies predominantly on the use of natural gas, process gas or syngas combustion. The goal of EPIXC is to identify and develop alternatives to these processes with electrified heating technologies that are competitive with today’s combustion heating technologies.