Energy and Utilities Workshop

Conference Details: 14–17 March 2022, Oak Ridge, Tenn., USA
No. of Attendees: 61

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) hosted the workshop. Opening the meeting was Xin Sun of ORNL, John O’Neill from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Elizabeth Dutrow from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Their welcome included a description of the governmental infrastructure within the Tennessee region, and the Better Plants program resources being directed through the DOE, while Dutrow described the benefits of achieving the Energy Star designation and additional types of assistance available for corporate energy reduction. 
Presentations were provided by industry experts and ORNL staff over the next two days, led by Sachin Nimbalkar and Tom Wenning, ORNL. Producer experiences in projects resulting in measurable energy reduction came through presentations by Larry Fabina and Bethany Worl of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., and Katelyn Dimmer, who detailed achievements carried out by Charter Steel on their road to ISO-50000 designation. Unique technology projects being proposed or in implementation were detailed, including carbon capture, direct molten electrolysis, gas fermentation and ironmaking reductants. Simulation and digitalization models were described by Christopher Price, ORNL, and Chenn Zhou, CIVS, Purdue University Northwest.
The pulse of the current industry direction was provided through a panel discussion at the conclusion of the third day, with participation by Traci Forrester, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.; David Miracle, Nucor Corp.; Jeff Hansen, Steel Dynamics Inc.; and Sudarsanam Babu of University of Tennessee.
On the final day, a bus tour of the ORNL facilities included stops and presentations at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, as well as one of the world’s top supercomputer centers, and the decommissioned and historical Nuclear Reactor Museum.

Traci Forrester (left) presented a plaque of appreciation to John O’Neill (right) for hosting Energy and Utilities Workshop (left to right): Russ Chapman, David Miracle, Forrester, Larry Fabina, O’Neill, Sachin Nimbalkar, Tom Wenning, Jeff Hansen and Anup Sane.