“Indiana Harbor No. 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," said Lourenco Goncalves, Cleveland-Cliffs chairman and chief executive officer.

"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,” he added. 

The trial was enabled by a recently commissioned hydrogen pipeline at Indiana Harbor. The pipeline was completed ahead of schedule, below budget and without incident. Cliffs said its hydrogen gas supplier, Linde, was a critical partner in the successful execution of this major trial.

The No. 7 furnace is the second Cleveland-Cliffs blast furnace to utilize hydrogen as a reductant and fuel source, following the successful trial at Middletown Works in May 2023.