Indeed. All new iron ore reduction plants built in the last few decades in the US have used syngas (a mixture of hydrogen and CO) made with natural gas for reducing the iron ore to iron metal, NOT coal/coke. These plants use about 50% hydrogen already, that amount can be increased modestly at existing plants with almost no modifications, and with significant modifications that can handle over 90% hydrogen. “Midrex” is one proprietary version of this Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) process.
I think few people (unless they’re actually in the industry) are aware that all new iron ore plants in the US use natural gas, NOT coal.
