Irenaeus Wong – 2020 Steel Premier Intern Scholar
Despite having completed internships in academia and industry, my time at Hatch was like no other. In my first four months, I have already been involved in digital twin development for steel works, process flowsheet decarbonization, assessment of carbon-neutral steel production strategy, and techno-economic analysis of steel plants across the globe. My time at Hatch has generally been an exciting, fast-paced, and multi-disciplinary experience where I spent much of my time learning and contributing to projects while I expanded my skill set.
Originating from a computational materials engineering background, I was able to directly apply my programming skills to a novel steel meltshop digital twinning project. We developed a framework to connect the data-rich meltshop to a calibration, simulation and optimization back end that could advise our clients on a charge mix to reduce their materials and electricity costs. Working on this project was a surreal experience as I have always heard of the buzzwords such as Industry 4.0 and artificial intelligence, but seeing and working on it firsthand for a client gives much-needed substance to my ambitions on the topic.
As someone who is interested in multiple disciplines, Hatch is the perfect place to refine my current interests as well as gaining exposure to new sectors of the industry. Sustainability and climate change are priorities for me, so I jumped on the opportunity to work on decarbonization projects at Hatch. As the steel industry emits a considerable amount of CO2, I am proud to have worked on projects pushing the envelope of decarbonization and the future of a carbon-neutral steelmaking process. I have been inspired to combine my computational materials background with this topic to model a digital twin of a net-zero-carbon steelmaking plant and optimizing it with deep learning. Therefore, I would like to pursue this either at Hatch, on my own time or potentially in graduate studies.
My time at Hatch has been invaluable in building my skills and confidence as a future engineer, as I have been able to work in familiar environments such as helping to build programs, as well as exploring new and exciting avenues such as decarbonization. I have been humbled in my exposure to the fast-paced and diverse work environment Hatch offers and am grateful to all the amazing mentors I have had throughout every unique project I contributed to. All my experiences at Hatch are ultimately attributed to AIST, which recognizes the digital and decarbonized future of the steel industry and makes an effort to push students such as myself to pursue this brighter future.